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THE  BEGINNINGS 

OF  THE  TRUE 

RAILWAY   MAIL  SERVICE 


GEO.  B.  ARMSTRONG, 
Founder  of  the  United  States  Railway  Mail  Service. 


THE    BEGINNINGS 


OF  THE  TRUE 


RAILWAY  MAIL  SERVICE 


AND  THE  WORK  OF 

GEORGE   B.  ARMSTRONG 

IN  FOUNDING  IT 


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PRINTED  FOR  PRIVATE  CIRCULATION 
1906 


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A  Word  of  Comment 

The  object  in  printing  these  pages  is  to  show  that  to  the  fertile 
brain  and  intense  energy  of  the  late  George  B.  Armstrong  of 
Chicago,  this  country  is  indebted  for  the  efficient  Railway  Mail 
Service  as  it  exists  to-day.  The  volume  is  composed  of  ex- 
tracts taken  from  the  official  history  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service, 
prepared  by  the  Post  Office  Department  in  1884  and  published 
in  1885,  together  with  other  matter  that  is  especially  relevant 
in  this  connection;  to  wit,  an  historical  letter  written  by 
Postmaster  Samuel  Hoard  of  Chicago  in  1865;  the  address 
of  Ex-Vice-President  Schuyler  Colfax  at  the  unveiling  of 
the  Armstrong  monument  at  Chicago  in  May,  188 1;  and  the 
address  delivered  by  Postmaster  E.  W,  Keyes  of  Madison, 
Wisconsin,  one  of  Mr.  Armstrong's  heartiest  coadjutors  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  at  the  banquet  given 
to  Postmaster- General  Charles  Emory  Smith  in  Chicago,  in 
April,  1900.  There  are  also  reminiscences  of  the  railway 
postal  clerks,  and  other  postal  officers,  who  were  associated 
with  Mr.  Armstrong  in  the  beginnings  of  the  service  that 
have  a  specific  interest. 

This  testimony  is  of  the  highest  value  as  contemporanec^us 
proof.  Especially  so  is  the  letter  of  former  Postmaster  Francis 
A.  Eastman,  of  Chicago,  which  shows  that  Mr.  Armstrong 
had  a  correct  conception  of  the  necessities.of  the  postal  ser- 
vice as  early  as  186 1.  In  that  year  he  told  Mr.  Eastman 
with  emphasis  that  he  was  "going  to  put  the  post  office  on 
wheels." 

Mr.  Armstrong  was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  enlisting  at 
an  early  stage  of  his  labors  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the 
Hon.  Schuyler  Colfax,  afterwards  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  then  Speaker  of  the  House.     Mr.  Colfax's  support  was 

3 


197620 


4  A  Word  of  Comment 

of  inestimable  benefit,  because,  knowing  intimately  all  of  Mr. 
Armstrong's  plans  for  this  grand  postal  reform,  he  was  in  a 
position  where  he  could  accomplish  an  infinite  amount  of 
good.  His  address  is  of  great  value  from  an  historical  point 
of  view.  General  Grant  was  fully  acquainted  with  Mr.  Arm- 
strong's successful  efforts  to  secure  the  best  and  speediest  dis- 
tribution of  the  immense  mails  for  the  western  armies,  and 
knew  also  of  his  plans  in  regard  to  the  general  improvement 
of  the  postal  service.  After  General  Grant  had  been  installed 
in  the  presidential  chair,  one  of  the  first  important  moves  on 
the  part  of  his  Postmaster- General,  the  Hon.  J.  A.  J.  Creswell, 
was  to  give  a  wider  scope  to  the  system  of  railway  post  offices 
by  making  it  a  separate  bureau  of  the  Post  Office  Department, 
with  George  B.  Armstrong  as  its  head. 

The  main  facts  concerning  the  establishment  of  the  Railway 
Mail  Service  and  of  Mr.  Armstrong's  connection  therewith 
are  to  be  found  in  the  official  history,  but  they  are  arranged 
without  regard  to  their  cumulative  value,  so  that  too  much 
time  and  patience  are  necessary  to  pick  them  out  and  place 
them  in  proper  and  logical  order.  In  this  print  these  facts 
are  sifted  and  given  their  natural  sequence.  They  show  be- 
yond question  that  the  three  exhaustive  ''Letters  on  Postal 
Reform"  which  were  addressed  by  George  B.  Armstrong,  while 
Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  to  the  Third  Assistant  Post- 
master-General under  Postmaster- General  Montgomery  Blair, 
in  the  months  of  May  and  June,  1864,  and  which  were 
published  in  pamphlet  form  and  widely  distributed  by  Mr. 
Armstrong,  were  really  the  foundation-stones  of  the  service  as 
it  exists  to-day.  These  letters  are  printed  in  the  official  history 
of  the  Railway  Mail  Service  as  Appendix  M,  on  pages  1 65-171. 
They  also  appear  in  full  in  this  book,  on  pages  60-73. 

Each  extract  from  the  official  history  here  used  is  credited 
to  the  page  from  which  it  was  taken. 

Geo.  B.  Armstrong,  Jr. 

Chicago,  April,  1906. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

(Ofl&cial  History,  issued  in  January,  1885,  page  59) 
In  one  sense  the  history  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service  covers 
the  period  from  the  day  the  first  pouch  was  carried  by  rail,  but 
for  the  first  thirty  years  it  is  a  history  of  transportation  merely, 
—  how  much  mail  was  carried,  how  far,  and  how  fast  or  how 
slow.  The  true  Railway  Mail  Service  is  recent,  its  history 
being  comprised  within  the  last  twenty  years,     (i  864-1 884.) 

Mr.  Armstrong's  First  Commission 

(Ofl&cial  History,  page  92) 

The  first  mention  we  have  of  George  B.  Armstrong  in 
connection  with  the  Railway  Mail  Service  is  in  1864.  In  the 
summer  of  1864,  Mr.  Armstrong  addressed  three  letters  to 
A.  N.  Zevely,  then  Third  Assistant  Postmaster- General. 

These  letters  from  Mr.  Armstrong  to  the  Third  Assistant 
Postmaster- General  are  dated  Chicago,  May  10,  May  14,  and 
June  10,  respectively.  The  letter  commissioning  Mr.  Arm- 
strong to  test  by  actual  experiment  the  plans  proposed  in  these 
letters,  is  dated  July  i,  1864,  and  is  as  follows: 

Post  Office  Department,  July  i,  1864. 

Sir:  You  are  authorized  to  test  by  actual  experiment,  upon 
such  railroad  route  or  routes  as  you  may  select  at  Chicago,  the 
plans  proposed  by  you  for  simplifying  the  mail  service.  You 
will  arrange  with  railroad  companies  to  furnish  suitable  cars 
for  traveling  post-offices;  designate  "head  offices,"  with  their 
dependent  offices;  prepare  forms  of  blanks  and  instructions  for 
all  such  offices,  and  those  on  the  railroad  not  ''head  offices;" 
also  for  the  clerks  of  traveling  post  offices. 

To  aid  you  in  this  work,  you  may  select  some  suitable  route 

5 


6  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

agent,  whose  place  can  be  supplied  by  a  substitute,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  this  Department. 

When  your  arrangements  are  complete,  you  will  report  them 
in  full. 

M.  Blair, 
George  B.  Armstrong,  Postmaster-General. 

Chicago,  111. 


Mr.  Armstrong's  Achievements  in  Detail 

(Official  History,  pages  178-179) 
H.  L.  Johnson,  principal  clerk  in  the  Mail  Equipment 
Division  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  under  date  of  July  22, 
1884,  contributed  an  interesting  article  to  the  official  history 
on  the  early  days  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service.  The  follow- 
ing extract  gives  much  detailed  information  of  a  valuable 
nature  in  relation  to  George  B.  Armstrong's  work: 

A  short  time  after  Mr.  Waller  had  undertaken  to  make  the 
arrangements  with  the  Atlantic  and  Great  Western  Railway, 
Mr.  Armstrong,  who  was  then  Assistant  Postmaster  of  Chicago, 
appeared  before  the  Department  in  the  character  of  a  zealous 
and  intelligent  advocate  of  the  "traveling  post-office  system," 
as  he  then  styled  it. 

He  was  received  by  the  chief  clerk  of  the  contract  office,  to 
whom  the  preliminary  consideration  of  the  subject  properly  be- 
longed, with  coldness  and  disfavor.  But  in  the  Third  Assistant 
Postmaster- General  (A.  N.  Zevely),  who  was  then  giving  his 
attention  largely  to  the  development  of  postal  reforms  and  im- 
provements, he  found  friendly  encouragement  and  wise  counsel. 
At  his  request  Mr.  Armstrong  communicated  his  views  in  writ- 
ing, addressing  to  him  a  series  of  letters  setting  forth  principally 
his  plan  of  improving  the  regularity  and  dispatch  of  the  mails 
by  the  use  of  the  traveling  post  office. 

These  letters,  three  in  number,  were  written  successively  in 
the  months  of  May  and  June,  1864,  and  in  the  latter  month 
Mr.  Armstrong  caused  them  to  be  printed  at  Chicago,  in  very 
small  pamphlet  form,  for  circulation. 

In  one  of  the  letters  referred  to,  Mr.  Armstrong  pointed  out 


^  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  7 

objections  to  the  then  existing  method  of  mailing  direct,  and 
made  a  suggestion  which,  having  afterwards  been  adopted, 
proved  to  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the  service. 

It  was  simply  to  dispense  with  wrappers  for  letters  or  packets 
of  letters,  and,  instead,  to  tie  them  together  so  that  one  of  the 
letters  of  legible  address  be  faced  outside.  By  this  simple 
method  not  only  paper,  labor,  and  the  time  of  wrapping  and 
writing  were  saved,  but  the  commission  of  many  errors  in 
writing  the  directions  was  entirely  prevented,  and  the  means 
afforded  of  quickly  detecting  and  correcting  errors  in  bagging; 
whereas  with  the  wrappers,  which  it  was  forbidden  to  open 
except  at  the  place  of  address,  errors  were  perpetuated  from 
hand  to  hand,  in  transit,  without  the  opportunity  of  correction, 
and  letters  were  thus  continually  being  miscarried  and  de- 
layed in  reaching  their  proper  destination. 

His  project  discountenanced  by  the  contract  office,  Mr.  Arm- 
strong sought  again  the  friendly  support  of  the  Third  Assistant 
Postmaster-General,  who  undertook  its  presentation  to  the 
attention  of  the  Postmaster- General,  but,  however,  not  without 
obtaining  the  consent  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General,  to  whose  bureau  of  duties  the  matter  properly  belonged . 

The  Postmaster- General  (Judge  Blair)  was  found  to  be 
favorably  disposed  to  experiment  with  the  traveling  post  office. 

Animated  by  the  approval  of  the  Postmaster- General,  sus- 
tained by  the  patronage  of  the  Third  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General,  and  accredited  by  a  traveling  commission  as  special 
agent  of  the  Department,  Mr.  Armstrong,  while  yet  Assistant 
Postmaster  at  Chicago,  addressed  himself  with  assiduity  and 
tact  to  enlist  the  good  will  of  railroad  companies  for  his 
project.  He  prevailed  on  the  officers  of  the  Chicago  and 
North-Western  Railway  (shortly  before  known  as  the  Galena 
&  Chicago  Union),  who  it  is  said  were  distinguished  for  liberal 
views  and  public  spirit,  to  consent  to  alter,  enlarge,  and  fit  up 
their  mail  cars  for  the  traveling  post  office  business. 

Soon  afterward  other  railroad  companies  manifested  a  will- 
ingness to  follow  their  example;  and  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Third  Assistant  Postmaster- General  those  between  Washing- 
ton, New  York,  and  Boston  consented  to  provide  suitable 
accommodations  for  the  traveling  post  office. 

In  that  year  (1864)   experiments  were  successfully  made 


8  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

on  those  roads.  Besides  retaining  for  their  local  knowledge 
and  experience  the  route  agents  already  on  those  roads,  the 
traveling  post  offices  were  further  manned  by  distributing- 
clerks  transferred  from  post  offices. 

This  second  and  greatly  enlarged  experiment  with  traveling 
post  offices  having  achieved  surprising  improvement,  as  far  as 
it  was  extended,  in  the  dispatch  of  the  mails,  and  the  expedi- 
ency of  permanently  incorporating  the  system  in  the  postal 
service  being  no  longer  a  matter  of  doubt,  the  Postmaster- 
General  (Governor  Denison),  in  his  report  of  November,  1864, 
recommended  that  express  provision,  by  law,  be  made  for  the 
employment  of  clerks  and  superintendents  for  that  service. 

On  the  2  2d  of  December,  1864,  Mr.  Armstrong  was 
appointed  a  special  agent  of  the  Department  to  further  organ- 
ize and  superintend  traveling  post  offices,  and  Harrison  Park 
and  Charles  E.  Wheeler  were  also  appointed  special  agents  to 
assist  in  that  work. 

By  the  act  of  March  3,  1865,  the  traveling  post  office  was 
recognized  by  law,  under  the  name  of  "railway  post  office," 
and  the  Postmaster- General  was  authorized  to  employ  clerks 
for  the  same;  also  two  special  agents  to  superintend  that 
service. 

On  the  ist  of  May,  1865,  Mr.  Armstrong  and  Mr.  Park  were 
appointed  special  agents  for  that  purpose,  the  former  stationed 
at  Chicago  to  superintend  the  railway  post  offices  of  the  West, 
and  the  latter  stationed  at  Washington  to  superintend  those  of 
the  East. 

A  plan  of  organization,  drawn  up  and  proposed  by  Mr. 
Armstrong,  was  adopted  by  the  Postmaster- General  (Hon. 
J.  A.  J.  Creswell)  and  promulgated  to  go  into  effect  July  i, 
1869,  consolidating  the  railway  post  offices  with  all  other  rail- 
road mail  service  in  the  United  States,  under  the  title  of 
''Railway  Mail  Service." 

By  this  plan  the  whole  railway  mail  service  was  divided  into 
six  divisions,  each  embracing  several  States,  and  each  division 
was  subdivided  into  districts  embracing  one  or  more  States 
and  parts  of  States. 

To  each  five  of  the  six  divisions  an  assistant  superintendent  of 
railway  mail  service  was  assigned,  under  the  general  direction 
and  control  of  a  "superintendent  of  railway  mail  service," 
stationed  at  the  Department  in  Washington,  and  Mr.  Armstrong 


The  True   Railway  Mail  Service  9 

was,  by  the  Postmaster- General,  made  that  superintendent,  a 
position  which  be  held  until  May  3,  187 1,  when  he  resigned, 
and  very  shortly  afterwards  died. 

The  railway  post  office  system  was  now  firmly  established 
as  a  permanent  institution  in  the  postal  service  of  this 
country. 

Perfected  Organization 

(Official  History,  page  63) 
In  1869  ...  the  railway  post  office,  which  for  several  years 
had  been  under  the  double  supervision  of  George  B.  Arm- 
strong in  the  West  and  Harrison  Park  in  the  East,  in  this  year, 
under  Postmaster- General  Creswell,  received  a  new  impetus. 
Mr.  Armstrong  was  called  to  Washington  and  given  entire 
control  of  the  railway  post  office  service.  Mr.  Creswell  re- 
ports in  1869  the  railway  post  offices  as  indispensable,  and 
promises  that  as  the  population  and  wealth  of  the  country  shall 
increase,  this  new  system  of  handling  the  mails  will  be 
extended  to  keep  pace  with  the  wants  and  demands  of  the 
people. 

(Official  History,  page  95) 

In  the  year  1869  we  come  upon  the  first  outlines  of  the 
present  system  of  divisions  and  division  superintendents.  Up 
to  this  time  the  superintendence  of  this  branch  of  the  service 
was  performed  by  men  designated  and  paid  as  special  agents, 
but  as  Congress  refused  in  the  appropriation  for  1869  to 
give  more  than  $100,000  for  special  agents,  the  Department 
was  compelled  to  reorganize  this  branch  of  the  service  so  far  as 
the  Railway  Mail  Service  was  concerned.  The  following 
scheme  was  the  result,  which  was  adopted  to  take  effect  July 
I,  1869.     Six  divisions  were  created,  as  follows: 

1.  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut. 

2.  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, and  the  eastern  shore  of  Virginia. 


10  The  True   Railway  Mail  Service 

3.  Virginia  (excluding  the  eastern  shore),  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi. 

4.  Ohio,  West  Virginia,  Michigan  (excluding  the  upper 
peninsula),  Indiana,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee. 

5.  Illinios,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
and  the  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan. 

6.  Embraces  all  that  territory  west  of  the  ninety-sixth  merid- 
ian and  Louisiana. 

To  each  of  five  of  these  divisions  was  assigned  one  special 
agent,  with  the  designation  of  "Assistant  Superintendent  of 
Railway  Mail  Service, "  charged  with  the  special  supervision 
of  the  transportation  of  the  mails. 

Undoubtedly  this  arrangement  of  the  country  into  divisions 
was  a  part  of  the  first  work  done  by  Mr.  Armstrong  in  his  at- 
tempts to  systematize  the  service.  He  had  been  made  General 
Superintendent  April  4,  1869,  and  continued  in  office  until  he 
resigned,  May  3,  187 1,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  George 
S.  Bangs. 

Departmental  Correspondence 

(Official  History,  pages  148-149) 

Finance  Office,  August  10,  1864. 

Dear  Sir:  Your  letters  of  the  7th  are  received.  I  am  glad 
to  know  that  you  are  getting  matters  arranged  for  the  new 
service.  The  suggestion  in  regard  to  the  appointment  of  the 
clerks  for  the  railway  post  office  has  been  submitted  to  the 
Postmaster- General,  and  he  fully  agrees  with  you  that  these 
appointments  should  be  filled  with  persons  of  accurate  knowl- 
edge and  experience  in  postal  matters. 

The  Postmaster- General  will  not  listen  to  the  question  of 
additional  compensation  in  connection  with  the  construction 
of  the  cars  for  railway  post  offices.  That  must  be  brought  up 
separately.     I  inclose  you  a  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  to  the 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  ii 

postmaster  at  Philadelphia  on  same  subject  in  which  the  Post- 
master-General's views  are  fully  set  forth. 
Yours,  respectfully,  &c., 

A.  N.  Zevely, 
G.  B.  Armstrong,  Third  Assistant  Postmaster-General. 

Chicago,  111. 

Finance  Office,  August  i6,  1864. 
Dear  Sir:    Your  letters  of  12th,  accompanied  by  various 
forms  of  blanks,  &c.,  prepared  by  you,  are  received. 

A  great  portion  of  the  blanks  had  been  previously  prepared 
here,  and  are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  printer.  They  are  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  you  send.  As  soon  as  we  get  proofs  of 
them,  we  will  forward  to  you. 

We  are  also  preparing  instructions  to  postmasters  and 
railway  post  office  clerks  in  regard  to  that  branch  of  business. 
I  wish  you  would  send  what  you  have  prepared,  so  that  we  may 
compare  them,  and  get  them,  if  possible,  similar.  The  stamps 
named  in  your  letter  have  been  ordered,  and  will  be  sent  you 
as  soon  as  received.  I  also  have  to  say  that  I  have  ignored 
the  name  "  traveling  "  post  office  and  have  adopted  "  United 
States  Railway  Post  Office. " 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

A.  N.  Zevely, 
G.  B.  Armstrong,  Third  Assistant  Postmaster-General. 

Chicago,  111. 


(OflScial  History,  page  86) 
Harrison  Park,  who  was  selected  as  Mr.  Armstrong's  assistant 
under  the  authority  given  in  Postmaster- General  Blair's  letter 
dated  July   i,   1864,  wrote  in   September,    1867,  to  a  New 
York  postal  official : 

This  meeting  was  held  in  the  Post  Office  Department  about 
the  middle  of  June,  1864,  the    result  of  which  was  that  the 


12  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

Department  determined  upon  the  experiment.  George  B. 
Armstrong,  then  Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  and  C.  E. 
Wheeler  of  the  Cleveland  post  office,  were  selected  to  super- 
intend and  put  the  improvement  to  the  test  —  Mr.  Armstrong 
upon  certain  railroad  lines  in  the  West,  and  Mr.  Wheeler  in 
the  East.  Mr.  Armstrong,  however,  was  then  the  Assistant 
Postmaster  at  Chicago,  and  as  the  duties  of  that  position  re- 
quired his  whole  time  and  constant  attention,  he  asked  for 
and  obtained  permission  to  employ  a  competent  assistant. 
From  my  experience  in  postal  affairs  and  knowledge  of  its 
workings  upon  railroad  lines,  and  because  I  was  a  believer  in 
and  advocate  of  the  proposed  new  service,  I  was  selected  to 
assist  him  in  the  West. 

The  first  line  of  railway  postal  service  inaugurated  and  put 
in  operation  was  upon  the  Galena  division  of  the  Chicago 
and  North- Western  Railway,  between  Chicago,  and  Clinton, 
Iowa,  August  28, 1864.  The  next  line  put  in  operation  was  the 
New  York  and  Washington  line,  which  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  its  introduction  on  the  Chicago  and  Rock  Island,  and 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  railroads  in  the  West, 
and  on  the  Pennsylvania  Central  and  the  New  York  and 
Erie  railroads  in  the  East. 


^     OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

CF 


Impressive  Personal  Testimony 

In  the  year  1895,  a  publishing  house  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 
conceived  the  idea  of  preparing  in  elaborate  form  a  history 
of  the  present  Railway  Mail  Service,  to  include,  with  other 
matter,  reminiscences  of  the  clerks  who  were  associated  with 
George  B.  Armstrong  in  his  great  work  of  establishing  the 
existing  service  upon  a  firm  and  expansive  foundation.  The 
project  progressed  quite  a  way  towards  completion,  when  the 
financial  panic  that  paralyzed  the  country  in  1894  forced  the 
firm  into  bankruptcy.  A  number  of  personal  reminiscences 
were  gathered  in  manuscript  form  for  use  in  that  connection. 
The  salient  points  of  a  part  of  these  tributes,  as  many  as 
space  will  allow,  presented  in  this  volume  for  the  first  time 
to  the  public,  furnish  impressive  corroborative  evidence  of 
the  great  value  of  Mr.  Armstrong's  work,  and  also  to  the 
fact  that  he  was  the  one  man  who  conceived  the  plan  of  the 
present  Railway  Mail  Service  and  carried  it  to  an  eminently 
successful  culmination. 

All  the  early  correspondence  in  relation  to  the  establishing 
of  the  railway  mail  service  was  destroyed  in  the  Chicago  fire 
of  187 1,  so  that  these  reminiscences  of  the  postal  clerks  and 
other  officials  possess  a  double  significance. 

These  reminiscences  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Chi- 
cago Historical  Society. 

Francis  A.  Eastman 

Ex-Postmaster y  Chicago^  III. 
Among   the   great   inventions   and   improvements   in   the 
postal  service,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  them  all  was  that  so 
laboriously  and  patiently  thought  out  by  George  B.  Arm- 

13 


14  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

strong,  which  converted  all  the  railway  mail  trains  in  the 
country  into  distributing  post  offices. 

George  B.  Armstrong  was  a  native  of  the  north  of  Ireland. 
His  mother  was  a  Buchanan,  and  she  traced  a  relationship 
to  James  Buchanan,  a  fact  which  brought  the  Armstrongs 
over  to  this  country.  While  his  eminent  relative  was  a  United 
States  Senator,  young  Armstrong  made  use  of  the  Senator's 
influence  to  get  himself  a  place  in  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment. There,  in  the  capacity  of  clerk  in  the  contract  office,  he 
labored  intelligently  and  faithfully,  and  it  was  there  that  he 
acquired  that  kind  of  knowledge  of  postal  business  which 
early  distinguished  him  as  an  expert.  His  proved  executive 
ability  obtained  for  him  the  recommendation  of  his  superior 
to  the  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  who  was  at  that  time  in  quest  of 
an  experienced  man  to  be  his  assistant.  This  was  in  1854. 
In  the  position  of  Assistant  Postmaster,  he  remained  through 
successive  administrations,  and  until  1865,  when,  at  his  own 
request,  he  was  relieved  to  give  his  entire  time  and  energy 
to  the  railway  postal  system. 

It  was  in  1864  that  he  made  known  to  the  Department  at 
Washington  the  outline  of  his  scheme  for  mail  distribution 
on  the  railways.  His  presentation  of  the  scheme  was  so 
plain  and  attractive  that  it  received  the  unhesitating  indorse- 
ment of  Postmaster- General  Montgomery  Blair. 

The  first  I  can  remember  of  ever  hearing  of  the  idea  of 
a  railway  postal  service  was  in  the  summer  of  1861.  Mr. 
Armstrong  was  still  the  Assistant  Postmaster,  and  his  duties 
were  then  particularly  arduous,  owing  to  the  change  of  ad- 
ministration and  the  illness  of  the  new  postmaster.  His 
residence  was  on  the  next  street  to  mine,  and  in  the  corre- 
sponding block,  and  it  so  happened  that  we  two  frequently 
fell  in  with  each  other  in  our  walks  to  and  from  business. 
It  was  not  long  before  I  observed  that  he  was  disinclined  to 
talk  by  the  way  on  miscellaneous  topics.    His  speech  and 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  15 

thoughts  were  all  upon  the  work  at  the  post  office.  **  I  tell 
you,"  he  said  on  one  occasion,  '*we  do  not  yet  know  what 
to  do  with  our  post  offices.  We  have  but  a  village  here,  com- 
pared to  the  city  we  shall  have.  This  vast  western  country 
is  still  almost  empty  of  settlers,  and  even  so,  the  mails  that 
are  hourly  dumped  into  the  post  office  fill  up  the  entire 
space  and  paralyze  the  men.  Unless  something  is  done 
towards  relief,  the  post  office  system  will  break  down  of  its 
own  weight." 

Perhaps  it  was  a  year  after  this,  possibly  not  six  months, 
that  I  had  another  casual  talk  with  Mr.  Armstrong  on  the 
subject  that  was  uppermost  in  his  mind.  He  informed  me 
that  he  had  about  thought  out  a  way  to  relieve  the  post  offices 
of  the  country  and  save  an  immense  amount  of  money  to 
the  government  in  new  or  enlarged  buildings,  and  to  work 
a  notable  economy  of  time  in  the  transportation  of  mails. 
Under  this  plan  he  thought  the  post  office  buildings  would 
not  for  many  years  require  to  be  much  enlarged,  and  the 
time  it  took  to  transport  the  mails  from  one  side  of  the  country 
to  the  other  would  be  reduced  to  a  very  few  days.  This 
latter  he  did  not  expect  to  accomplish  immediately,  or  all 
at  once.  "  I  am  going,"  he  said,  excitedly,  ''  to  put 
the  post  office  upon  wheels."  I  did  not  ask  him  if  he 
was  crazy,  but  I  had  my  suspicions.  Still  later,  Mr.  Arm- 
strong called  upon  me  at  my  office  to  ask  my  assistance  as 
a  newspaper  man  to  set  before  the  public  in  a  favorable  light 
the  fact  that  he  had  invented  a  railway  postal-car.  He 
then  first  made  known  to  me  that  his  plans  were  complete, 
and  that  upon  a  day  named  and  fixed  he  would  run  it  out 
upon  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway.  It  was  to 
be  a  trial  trip,  and  a  number  of  merchants  and  bankers  would 
go  along  with  him,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  have  some  repre- 
sentatives of  the  press  also  to  be  of  the  party.  This  was  in 
August,  1864. 


l6  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

The  trial  trip  was  made,  Mr.  Armstrong  was  pleased  with 
it,  and  the  clerks  of  the  Chicago  post  office  that  assisted 
were  confident  that  the  scheme  was  a  good  one.  But  the 
merchants  and  bankers  had  their  doubts.  They  had  fears 
that  the  mail  would  not  be  handled  in  the  cars  without  too 
great  danger  of  loss  of  valuable  letters.  My  own  report  in 
my  newspaper  was  not  too  favorable;  while  the  reports  of 
one  or  two  others  of  the  city  journals  were  almost  fiercely 
hostile.  Now  and  ever  after,  more  and  more  of  Mr.  Arm- 
strong's time  was  taken  up  with  the  early  workings  and  the 
improving  of  the  new  service.  There  were  constantly  new  de- 
mands upon  his  time  and  energies,  in  the  urgent  interest  of 
his  great  and  still  enlarging  undertaking.  Truly,  his  whole 
soul  was  in  his  work. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 

John  B.  Harlow 

Ex-Postmaster,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I  entered  the  railway  postal  service  in  September,  1866,  and 
was  assigned  to  the  Chicago  and  Centralia  railway  post 
office  by  George  B.  Armstrong,  who,  at  that  time,  was  the 
directing  and  controlling  spirit  of  that  (then)  new  branch  of 
the  postal  service. 

The  character  of  the  service  was  such  that,  in  this 
country  at  least,  there  was  no  precedent  to  be  guided  by, 
and  necessarily  each  and  all  advances  made  were  the 
result  of  the  individual  thought  and  action  of  Mr.  Armstrong. 
That  his  foresight  and  judgment  were  correct  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  the  principles  and  characteristics  of  the 
service  are  to-day  virtually  the  same  as  at  the  time  of  its 
inauguration. 

Even  the  system  of  checking  ''errors  in  distribution"  was 
introduced  by  him,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  following  order, 
received  by  me  on  the  date  of  issue: 


The  True  kailway  Mail  Service  17 

Post  Office,  Chicago,  III.,  Nov.  10,  1868. 
Sir:  You  are  hereby  detailed  to  run  for  one  week  from 
Thursday,  November  12th,  from  Mattoon  to  Centralia,  and 
examine  all  mail  thrown  or  pouched  in  the  car  each  day  by 
the  R.  P.  O.  clerks  running  from  Centralia  to  Cairo,  and 
report  to  me,  in  writing,  all  errors  in  said  mail. 

G.  B.  Armstrong. 
J.  B.  Harlow,  Railway  Postal  Clerk. 

The  only  service  at  all  similar  that  preceded  the  intro- 
duction of  the  service  under  Mr.  Armstrong  in  1864,  of  which 
I  have  either  heard  or  read,  was  on  the  Hannibal  and  St. 
Joseph  Railway,  placed  there,  I  am  informed,  on  the  rec- 
ommendation and  under  the  supervision  of  a  Mr.  Davis,  at 
that  time  Assistant  Postmaster  at  St.  Joseph;  and  as  I  under- 
stand, it  was  born  of  necessity. 

The  St.  Joseph  office,  being  at  the  time  mentioned  the 
receiving-office  for  all  mails  for  dispatch  west,  found  it  im- 
possible, with  the  space  and  time  at  their  disposal,  to  distribute 
and  dispatch  the  same  on  schedule  time;  hence  the  origin  of 
the  thought,  ''  How  can  the  time  and  space  be  gained  ? " 
The  sequel  naturally  was  the  preparation  of  the  mail,  in  part 
at  least,  not  by  the  route  agents  on  that  line  but  by  clerks 
sent  from  the  post  office  at  St.  Joe  to  meet  the  trains  and 
work  this  mail  while  in  transit  to  the  Missouri  River. 

I  have  never  heard  that  even  so  much  as  a  thought  was 
given  to  working  the  mails  east-bound,  and,  necessarily,  the 
arrangement  can  only  be  looked  upon  as  a  "makeshift"  — 
solely  for  the  relief  of  the  overcrowded  St.  Joe  office, 
and  therefore  not  to  be  considered  as  in  line  with  the  idea 
conceived  and  carried  into  effect  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  whose 
inception,  it  is  evident,  embraced  the  whole  country  through- 
out which  railway  post  offices  were  to  be  established,  and 
the  mails  to  be  distributed  and  forwarded  as  rapidly  as  in 
the  case  of  passengers. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  state  that  with  my  knowledge  and 


1 8  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

information  on  the  subject,  I  have  never  for  a  moment  enter- 
tained a  doubt  that  to  George  B.  Armstrong,  and  to  no  other, 
belongs  the  credit  of  being  known  as  the  founder  of    the 
present  Railway  Mail  Service. 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  1895. 

James  £.  White 

General  Superintendent  Railway  Mail  Service 
The  first  railway  post  office  in  the  United  States  was  estab- 
lished August  28th,  1864,  upon  the  Chicago  and  North- 
western Railway,  and  ran  between  Chicago,  111.,  and  Clinton, 
Iowa,  in  an  apartment  car  improvised  for  the  purpose,  with 
Percy  A.  Leonard  as  head  clerk,  and  Asa  F.  Bradley  assist- 
ant. Mr.  Bradley,  an  old  surveyor,  aided  Mr.  Armstrong 
in  drawing  plans  for  the  car,  and  the  arrangement  of  letter- 
cases  in  angles  instead  of  circles  was  Mr.  Bradley's  idea. 
The  first  full  railway  post  office  cars  were  built  by  the  Chicago 
and  North- Western  Railway,  on  plans  furnished  by  George  B. 
Armstrong,  in  1867,  and  were  placed  in  service  between  Boone 
and  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  at  a  time  when  that  railway  post 
office  distributed  the  overland  letter  mail.  I  assisted  in 
labeling  the  letter  and  paper  cases  in  these  cars. 

Mr.  Armstrong  was  unquestionably  the  father  of  the  Rail- 
way Mail  Service  in  the  United  States.  The  idea  of  dis- 
tributing the  mails  while  in  transit,  thus  expediting  their 
delivery,  and  practically  sweeping  out  what  was  then  known 
as  distributing  post  offices,  was  his  conception.  He  lived  to 
see  his  dream  realized.  Enough  had  been  accomplished  to 
demonstrate  that  the  plan  he  had  worked  out  was  not  only 
practicable,  but  essential  to  the  business  interests  of  the 
country. 

Mr.  Armstrong  was  appointed  General  Superintendent  of 
the  Railway  Mail  Service  in  1869,  though  he  had  been  the 
real  head  of  the  service,  with  headquarters  in  Chicago,  from 


THE  FIRST  RAILWAY  POSTAL  CAR  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
Built  by  the  Chicasro  and  North- Western  Railway  in  May,  1867,  after  plans  drawn  by 

Geo.  B.  Armstrong:. 


Paper  Case. 


INTERIOR  VIEWS  OF  THE  FIRST  RAILWAY  POSTAL  CAR. 
Built  alter  Plans  Drawn  by  Geo.  B.  Armstrong:. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  19 

the  date  of  its  establishment  in  August,  1864.  The  writer 
remembers  distinctly  of  meeting  him  in  Iowa,  Illinois,  and 
Nebraska  while  he  was  making  tours  of  inspection,  and  of 
holding  conversations  with  him  respecting  the  service  and  his 
plans  for  the  future  development  of  it;  and  from  these  could 
but  reach  the  conclusion  that  he  then  anticipated  that  the 
service  would  ultimately  become  exceedingly  important  and 
useful. 
Washington,  D.  C,  1895. 

James  £.  Stuart 

Post  Office  Inspector  in  Charge 

In  the  fall  of  1866,  I  was  appointed  by  Postmaster- Gen- 
eral Alexander  W.  Randall,  route  agent  on  the  Chicago  and 
North-Western  Railway  from  Chicago  to  Green  Bay,  Wis- 
consin. On  receiving  my  appointment,  I  was  instructed  to 
report  for  duty  to  George  B.  Armstrong,  of  Chicago,  my 
home  then  being  at  Oshkosh. 

I  well  remember  the  day  that  I  reported  to  Mr.  Armstrong 
and  the  conversation  that  I  had  with  him  on  that  occasion. 
He  was  very  particular  in  making  inquiries  as  to  who  I  was 
and  what  had  been  my  previous  occupation.  He  expressed 
himself  as  glad  to  know  that  I  was  young  and  strong,  and 
that  I  had  served  throughout  the  war.  He  informed  me  then 
that  he  intended  soon  to  establish  a  railway  postal  service 
on  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  from  Chicago 
to  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin;  that  of  the  appointments  made 
quite  a  number  were  young  men  who  had  served  in  the  army, 
and,  said  he,  ''that  is  the  kind  of  material  that  lam  anxious 
to  get  into  this  service.  I  feel  that  they  are  the  kind  of  men 
on  whom  I  can  rely  for  assistance  in  developing  the  railway 
postal  service  of  the  West,  and  I  believe  that  this  class  of 
men  should  be  appointed." 

I  continued  the  run  upon  this  line  of  the  railway  post  a 


20  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

service  until  the  fall  of  1866,  when  I  was  called  to  the  office 
by  Mr.  Armstrong  and  was  informed  by  him  that  he  had 
selected  a  number  of  clerks  on  several  of  the  lines  on  which 
the  railway  postal  service  had  been  established,  and  that  it 
was  his  intention  to  send  these  men  to  run  over  the  Chicago 
and  North-Western  Railway  through  the  state  of  Iowa  to 
Omaha,  and  that  I  was  one  of  the  number  selected  for  this 
run.  Up  to  this  time,  it  had  been  the  custom  to  send  all 
mail  for  that  country  west  of  the  Missouri  River  to  the  large 
distributing  offices,  such  as  Salt  Lake  City,  Sacramento, 
San  Francisco,  and  Denver,  and  all  mail  from  all  sections 
of  the  country  east  of  the  Missouri  River,  for  this  western 
country,  was  put  in  pouches  and  marked  to  these  distrib- 
uting offices.  The  result  was,  that  the  mail  which  accumu- 
lated at  the  Missouri  River  amounted  to  an  immense  number 
of  pouches,  some  containing  a  large  quantity  of  mail,  while 
others,  perhaps,  contained  but  a  single  letter.  To  prevent 
the  transportation  of  that  unnecessarily  large  number  of 
pouches  over  that  long  stretch  of  country  to  reach  Salt  Lake 
City,  Sacramento,  and  San  Francisco,  many  of  which  pouches 
contained  only  a  single  letter,  or  at  most  a  handful  of  letters, 
Mr.  Armstrong  conceived  the  idea  of  consolidating  this 
mail  and  therefore  established  a  service  for  that  purpose 
on  the  line  of  the  Chicago  and  North- Western  Railway  from 
Boone  to  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  and  issued  an  order  directing 
that  all  pouches  from  the  eastern  country  and  eastern  lines 
marked  for  those  western  cities  be  forwarded  via  the  Chicago 
and  North- Western  Railway  to  Omaha. 

These  clerks,  in  running  west,  had  to  unload  their  mail 
at  Council  Bluffs  oftentimes  having  to  take  from  one  to 
three  large  double  wagon  loads  of  paper  mail  out  of  the  bag- 
gage car  into  wagons,  which  they  had  to  accompany  for  three 
miles,  the  greater  part  of  the  way  over  corduroy  roads.  In 
wet  weather,  oftentimes  the  wagons  would  get  stuck  in  the 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  21 

mud  and  the  mail  would  have  to  be  unloaded,  and  the  wagon 
pulled  out  of  the  mud,  and  the  mails  loaded  up  again  before 
the  Missouri  River  was  reached  opposite  Omaha.  I  have 
seen  the  day  when  this  had  to  be  done  from  two  to  three 
times  in  one  trip.  In  summer  weather  the  wagons  would 
cross  the  river  on  the  ferry  boat,  and  in  winter  on  the  ice, 
but  oftentimes  in  winter  the  mails  would  be  unloaded  and 
left  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Missouri  River,  there  to  re- 
main all  night,  or  until  it  was  possible  to  get  across  to  the 
Omaha  shore.  I  have  known  postal  clerks  many  times  to 
remain  with  their  mail  on  the  bank  of  the  Missouri  River 
the  whole  night  long,  and  oftentimes  when  they  had  to  bury 
themselves  under  their  mail  to  keep  from  freezing.  Mr. 
Armstrong  thoroughly  understood  the  hardships  which  these 
clerks  had  sometimes  to  undergo  in  handling  the  mails  be- 
tween Council  Bluffs  and  Omaha,  for  he  had  on  more  than 
one  occasion  witnessed  it,  and  on  one  occasion  came  out 
with  us  to  see  what  could  be  done  towards  the  better  trans- 
mission of  the  mails  from  Council  Bluffs  to  Omaha.  On 
this  visit,  Mr.  Armstrong  and  the  clerks  could  not  get  across 
the  Missouri  River  until  the  following  morning.  On  reaching 
the  bank  of  the  Missouri  River  through  snow  and  mud,  the 
open  mail-wagons  were  unloaded,  the  mail  was  deposited  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  and  the  wagons  were  taken  back  to 
Council  Bluffs.  A  camp  fire  was  built  and  our  superintendent, 
Mr.  Armstrong,  with  the  clerks,  sat  around  that  camp  fire 
in  the  mud  guarding  the  tons  of  large  mails  for  the  West 
and  talking  over  the  situation  all  the  night  long.  At  break  of 
day,  when  the  storm  had  subsided  sufficiently  to  allow  the 
ferry  boat  to  land,  these  clerks,  assisted  by  Mr.  Armstrong, 
carried  the  mail  to  the  boat  by  which  it  was  transported 
to  the  other  shore,  when  it  had  to  be  unloaded  again  and 
re-loaded  on  wagons  for  the  Omaha  office. 

The  primitive  postal-car    was  to  the  well-equipped  rail- 


22  The  True   Railway   Mail  Service 

way  post  office  of  to-day  what  an  ordinary  freight-caboose 
is  to  a  Pullman  palace-car.  But  George  B.  Armstrong,  who 
had  the  practical  judgment  to  recognize  at  that  time  the 
public  need  of  a  railway  postal  service,  and  gave  it  its  crude 
beginning,  had  also  the  prophetic  vision  to  foresee  its  pos- 
sibilities. Too  much  credit  cannot  be  given  to  Mr.  Armstrong, 
who,  nothing  daunted  by  lack  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  high 
officials  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  and  the  doubts  and 
taunts  of  an  incredulous  public,  had  still  the  courage  of  his 
convictions  to  press  steadily  on  until  he  gave  to  the  commercial 
world  the  greatest  boon  it  has  received  within  the  last  half- 
century. 

In  the  Government  Building  in  Chicago  stands  a  modest 
bronze  bust  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  father  of  the 
Railway  Mail  Service,  in  1881,  and  bearing  mute  and  humble 
testimony  to  the  appreciation  and  esteem  in  which  George  B. 
Armstrong  was  regarded  by  the  loyal  postal  clerks  in  the 
West.  It  is  passing  strange  that  the  commercial  world  has 
never  stopped  long  enough  in  its  mad  rush  of  money-getting 
business  to  pay  a  fitting  tribute  to  the  memory  of  this  man, 
the  direct  fruits  of  whose  labor  they  so  universally  enjoy.  The 
thought  has  often  occurred  to  my  mind  that  in  our  beautiful 
city  of  Washington,  whose  parks  and  circles  are  adorned  by  so 
many  plain  and  equestrian  statues  of  the  heroes  of  the  war, 
it  would  only  be  keeping  abreast  of  civiUzation  to  erect  an 
occasional  statue  to  the  the  memory  of  some  hero  of  civil 
and  every-day  life,  and  first  and  foremost  among  this  number 
should  be  found  a  testimonial  to  George  B.  Armstrong,  who 
gave  to  the  business  and  social  world  the  inestimable 
advantage  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  23 

William  P.  Campbell 

Ex-Asst.  General  Superintendent  Railway  Mail  Service 
I  entered  the  railway  post  office  service  as  a  clerk,  be- 
tween Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  in  January,  1868,  and  after 
remaining  upon  the  line  a  short  time,  at  the  earnest  request 
and  repeated  solicitations  of  Mr.  Armstrong  entered  the 
office  with  him  as  his  clerk.  George  B.  Armstrong  was  the 
founder  and  the  father  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  and 
all  the  arguments  and  irrelevant  statements  already  printed, 
and  all  that  may  be  adduced,  cannot  alter  the  fact.  I  have 
no  desire  to  take  from  the  memory  of  William  A.  Davis  of 
St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  one  jot,  or  tittle  of  what  is  due  him  of 
credit  in  his  idea  for  having  the  overland  mail  distribution 
made  on  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  Railway.  But  it 
was  a  conception  so  marred  in  detail  that  to  call  it  the  first 
of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  as  seen  and  planned  by  Colonel 
Armstrong,  is  simply  to  trifle  with  truth  and  fact.  Mr.  Davis' 
idea  originated  from  an  emergency;  Colonel  Armstrong's, 
to  render  impossible  any  emergency.  The  first,  to  relieve 
an  over-crowded  post  office;  the  second,  to  relieve  all  post 
offices.  The  first,  to  distribute  one  certain  mail  going  in  one 
certain  direction;  the  second,  to  distribute  all  mail  going  in 
all  directions.  The  first  died  with  an  altered  course  of  the 
mail;  the  second  has  grown  and  expanded  from  month  to 
month  and  year  to  year,  and  only  long  after  his  death  did 
it  reach  that  full  fruition  and  degree  of  usefulness  which,  I 
know,  its  founder  saw  from  the  start,  and  which  was  not, 
I  am  sure,  seen  by  any  other  man  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Armstrong  was  located  in  Chicago.  Why?  Because 
the  great  West  was  then  the  rapidly  growing  portion  of  this 
country;  its  railways  building,  its  business  expanding,  its 
towns  increasing  in  size  and  importance  more  rapidly  than 
in  the   East,  and  here  he  had  greater  scope  for  his  work. 


^     OF    THE 


24  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

At  his  own  request,  a  second  officer  was  selected  to  take 
charge  of  the  railway  post  offices  in  the  East.  This  was 
Harrison  Park.  When  chosen  by  Mr.  Armstrong  for  this 
work,  he  was  a  route  agent  between  Chicago  and  Centralia. 
Chicago,  III.,  1895. 

M.  J.  McGrath 

Ex- Assistant  Superintendent  Railway  Mail  Service 

Among  other  things,  I  desire  to  say : 

First:  That  George  B.  Armstrong  is,  in  my  opinion, 
entitled  to  the  entire  credit  of  inaugurating  the  Railway 
Mail  Service. 

Second:  That  it  is  only  by  his  persistent  efforts  that  the 
Railway  Mail  Service  became  an  accomplished  fact. 

Mr.  Armstrong's  right  to  the  credit  of  this  great  improve- 
ment was  never  questioned  by  those  who  were  closely 
identified  with  him  in  the  work,  and  who  knew  of  their  own 
knowledge  how  hard  he  toiled  in  the  development  of  the 
scheme  and  practically  applied  it  to  the  mail  service  of  the 
United  States.  The  claim  put  forth  by  some  few  persons 
that  W.  A.  Davis,  Assistant  Postmaster  at  St.  Joseph,  Mis- 
souri, was  the  first  one  who  thought  of  these  improvements, 
I  do  not  think  deserves  serious  consideration;  that  is,  so  far 
as  it  relates  to  the  present  railway  postal  system. 

Entering  the  service  myself  in  May,  1867,  the  first  railway 
post  office,  as  I  remember  it,  was  established  on  the  Chicago 
and  North- Western  Railway,  between  Chicago  and  Clinton, 
Iowa,  in  the  summer  of  1864.  Asa  F.  Bradley  and  P.  A. 
Leonard  were  the  first  clerks  appointed  in  the  service.  The 
former  gentleman,  under  the  supervision  of  Mr.  Armstrong, 
drew  the  plans  for  the  original  postal-car.  The  idea  of  a 
post  office  on  wheels  attracted  public  attention,  and  excited 
great  interest  among  the  business  men  of  Chicago  before 
its  first  and  official  departure.     The  successful  operation  of 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  25 

the  service  on  this  line  was  so  clearly  demonstrated  that  author- 
ity was  given  to  Mr.  Armstrong  by  the  Department  to  estab- 
lish railway  post  office  service  on  the  principal  western  trunk 
lines  out  of  Chicago.  It  was  soon  after  the  establishment  of 
the  service  between  Chicago  and  Clinton,  Iowa,  that  the  De- 
partment authorized  the  experiment  to  be  tried  on  a  few  of 
the  eastern  trunk  lines.  While  the  new  service  in  the  West 
had  reached  a  fair  state  of  efficiency,  in  the  East  it  was  still 
little  better  than  route  agencies,  and  the  eastern  men  en- 
gaged at  that  time  in  the  work  readily  acknowledged  the 
superiority  of  this  service  in  the  West.  This  difference  was 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Armstrong  gave  his 
whole  time  and  personal  supervision  to  the  improvement  of 
the  western  service,  and  coming  into  personal  contact  with 
the  men,  inspired  them  with  his  own  zeal  and  enthusiasm. 

It  was  the  practice  at  this  time  to  wrap  every  package  of 
letters  in  wrapping-paper.  Even  a  single  letter  was  so  treated 
and  then  the  package  directed  in  ink.  Every  postal-car  was  a 
warehouse  for  this  brown  paper,  as  it  was  necessary  to  have  a 
large  supply  on  hand.  The  car  floor  would  be  so  littered 
with  discarded  wrappings  that  many  times  the  clerks  stood  to 
their  knees  in  waste  paper.  Mr.  Armstrong  conceived  the 
idea  of  doing  away  with  all  this  paper  and  tying  the  letters 
in  bundles  with  a  plainly  addressed  letter  faced  outside. 
This  was  an  important  step  towards  the  improvement  of  the 
service,  resulting  in  a  great  saving  of  time,  labor,  and  money. 

The  next  important  step  after  the  service  had  been  thor- 
oughly established  was  its  formation  into  a  separate  bureau, 
and  the  calling  of  Mr.  Armstrong  to  Washington  as  its  head. 
His  first  act  was  to  organize  the  service  on  a  systematic  basis, 
and  to  this  end  he  divided  the  country  into  six  districts  or 
divisions,  with  an  official  designated  "Assistant  Superin- 
tendent "  at  the  head  of  each. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 


26  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

Charles  R.  Harrison 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

My  first  acquaintance  with  George  B.  Armstrong,  formerly 
General  Superintendent  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  com- 
menced in  April,  1861,  at  which  time  he  was  Assistant  Post- 
master in  the  Chicago  office,  and  I  was  running  as  mail  route 
agent  between  Chicago  and  Oshkosh,  Wisconsin,  the  initial 
and  terminal  of  a  railroad  mail  route  at  that  time. 

In  the  summer  of  1861,  I  had  my  first  conversation  with 
him  relative  to  the  changing  or  reforming  of  the  system  of 
making  up  letter  mails  dispatched  from  the  Chicago  post 
office.  He  told  me  at  that  time  that  he  had  asked  the  Depart- 
ment at  Washington  for  permission  to  abandon  the  way- 
billing  of  all  letters  dispatched  direct  from  Chicago  to  other 
offices,  and  that  consent  had  been  granted.  He  was  very 
enthusiastic  over  it,  and  made  the  remark  that  it  "would 
benefit  the  boys,"  meaning  the  route  agents.  Their  quarters 
were  in  the  basement  of  the  post  office  at  that  time,  and  the 
way-bills  were  stored  there  for  future  reference. 

During  the  summer  of  1862, 1  heard  him  first  speak  of  his  plan 
for  distributing  mails  on  railroad  cars  in  transit.  He  frequently 
called  route  agents,  who  were  not  on  their  runs,  into  his  office 
and  submitted  to  them  his  grand  idea  and  talked  about  how  it 
would  work.  Following  some  suggestion  he  had  made,  he 
would  remark,  "Theoretically,  it  will  work,  but  you  boys  can 
tell  better  than  I  whether  it  is  practical  or  not. "  During  the 
summer  of  1864,  I  saw  the  plan  in  manuscript  form  and 
heard  him  read  it.  It  was  later  printed  in  pamphlet  form  by 
him  and  submitted  for  consideration  and  approval  to  his  old 
acquaintance.  Third  Assistant  Postmaster- General  Zevely. 
Mr.  Armstrong  gave  me  a  copy  of  this  pamphlet,  and  it  is  now 
the  only  one  in  existence  that  I  have  knowledge  of. 

During  the  summer  and  fall  of  1862,  Mr.  Armstrong  was 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  27 

using  his  best  efforts  to  induce  the  Department  to  allow  him  to 
try  his  scheme  on  some  of  the  railroad  lines  leading  out  of  Chi- 
cago. "But,"  as  he  expressed  it,  ''this  cruel  war  requires  all 
their  money  and  time  at  Washington,  and  we  will  have  to  wait 
coming  events.  This  war  ended,  mail  will  be  distributed  on 
railroad  cars  in  transit  from  Maine  to  California,  and  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  men  will  do  their  work  in 
protected  cars,  and  be  as  safe  as  if  working  in  the  Chicago  post 
office." 

In  1865,  Mr.  Armstrong  asked  me  to  assist  Route  Agent 
Johnson  in  planning  a  mail-car  for  the  Chicago  to  Green  Bay 
route.  I  complied,  and  from  these  plans  the  Chicago  and 
North- Western  Railway  built  five  convenient  full-width  38  feet 
cars.  These  cars  are  in  use  on  their  lines  to-day.  The 
paper-boxes  have  been  removed  and  Harrison  racks  sub- 
stituted, otherwise  they  are  intact.  Mr.  Armstrong  told  me 
that  these  were  the  first  cars  in  the  United  States  built  ex- 
pressly for  the  railway  post  office  service,  although  he  had 
ordered  cars  for  the  Railway  Mail  Service  improvised  out  of 
old  cars  on  the  Chicago  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  and  the  Washing- 
ton to  New  York  lines. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Armstrong,  his  ideas  as  outlined  in 
his  pamphlet  were  carried  out  to  the  letter  by  Mr.  Bangs,  as 
will  be  seen  by  reference  to  that  document.  In  conversation 
Mr.  Bangs  always  gave  Mr.  Armstrong  the  credit  of  originating 
the  present  Railway  Mail  Service. 

OsHKOSH,  Wis.,  1895. 

Jerome  B.  Johnson 

Superintendent  of  Mails,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 
I  regret  that  I  do  not  wield  a  ready  pen  to  convey  to  you,  in 
suitable  terms,  what  I  know  of  those  incipient  days  of  the  Rail- 
way Mail  Service,  and  the  struggles  and  difficulties  which 
George  B.  Armstrong  encountered  during  a  series  of  years,  be- 


28  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

fore  he  enlisted  the  full  co-operation  of  the  Department  and 
Congress  in  his  scheme  of  establishing  the  Railway  Mail  Service 
and  putting  it  on  a  firm  foundation. 

The  writer  was  appointed  as  a  route  agent  on  the  Chicago 
and  North- Western  Railway  from  Green  Bay  to  Chicago  in 
November,  1863,  shortly  after  which  time  I  became  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Armstrong,  then  Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  111. 

I  believe  that  the  inception  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service  in 
the  mind  of  Mr.  Armstrong  was  due  to  the  receipt  in  Chicago 
of  the  immense  army  mails  coming  via  Cairo  and  Louisville. 
I  remember  in  the  spring  of  1864,  as  wagon-loads  of  No.  i 
pouches  were  unloaded  at  the  Chicago  post  office,  of  his  re- 
marking, "If  we  had  letter-cases  in  the  mail-cars  and  an  extra 
clerk,  this  mail  would  be  all  worked  up  in  transit,  ready  for 
dispatch  on  arriving  here,"  and  I  think  that  he  commenced 
to  work  out  the  scheme  then  and  there. 

I  cannot  give  dates,  but  during  the  summer  of  1864  Mr. 
Armstrong  succeeded  in  getting  letter-cases  put  in  the  route 
agents'  cars  on  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  (Chi- 
cago to  Clinton,  and  Chicago,  Freeport,  and  Dubuque). 
Postmasters  on  these  lines  received  instructions  to  discontinue 
making  up  wrapped  packages  of  letters,  but  to  tie  up  the  way  or 
state  mail  in  one  package,  marking  it  No.  i  and  the  rest  No.  2. 

During  this  time,  the  government  was  engaged  in  putting 
down  a  gigantic  rebellion,  or  recovering  from  the  shock,  and 
the  Department,  or  Congress,  could  give  Mr.  Armstrong  but 
little  encouragement  or  help.  The  railroad  companies  acceded 
to  Mr.  Armstrong's  request  by  putting  in  cases  for  handling  the 
letter  mail,  but  this  was  the  extent  of  increased  car  facilities. 
During  the  winter  of  1866  and  1867  the  Department  and 
Congress,  under  a  strong  pressure  of  public  opinion  for  the 
extension  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  seemed  to  awaken  to 
its  importance,  and  from  this  time  on  the  success  of  the 
service  and  its  ultimate  adoption  all  over  the  country  was 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  29 

fully  assured.  During  the  winter  of  1866  and  1867,  the 
Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  (Fort  Howard  and  Chi- 
cago), the  leading  line  north  and  northwest,  after  more  than 
a  year's  agitation  on  the  subject,  made  terms  for  an  equip- 
ment of  full  postal  cars  for  this  line,  and  I  received  in- 
structions from  Mr.  Armstrong  to  prepare  the  plans  for  the 
same.  These  cars,  38  feet  in  length,  were  built,  and  the 
service  was  established  on  the  line  May  i,  1867.  These  cars, 
I  was  told  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  were  the  first  entire  railway 
postal  cars  in  the  service;  and  I  remember  the  pride  which 
he  manifested  in  showing  them  to  the  Second  Assistant  Post- 
master-General, George  W.  McLellan,  who  was  in  Chicago 
at  that  time. 
Milwaukee,  Wis.,  1895. 

Percy  A.  Leonard 

The  First  Railway  Postal  Clerk  Appointed 
When,  in  the  year  1864,  George  B.  Armstrong,  at  that  time 
Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago  under  John  L.  Scripps,  sug- 
gested the  abandonment  of  the  old  method  of  billing  letters 
and  a  direct  distribution  of  all  incoming  and  outgoing  mails  on 
the  train,  the  mossbacks  laughed  incredulously.  The  vast 
surplus  of  mail,  estimated  to  be  500,000  letters,  that  had  ac- 
cumulated in  the  distributing  department  of  the  Chicago  post 
office  during  the  months  of  December,  1863,  and  January  and 
February',  1864,  made  some  extraordinary  effort  imperative  and 
demonstrated  to  the  analytical  mind  of  Mr.  Armstrong  the 
necessity  for  a  radical  change  in  the  system  then  in  vogue. 
By  putting  on  some  forty  extra  distributing-clerks  the  "  block- 
ade "of  letters  was  broken,  but  the  expense  and  trouble  inci- 
dent to  the  system  remained. 

Accordingly,  in  July,  1864,  after  much  argument  and  a 
good  deal  of  negotiation  between  the  Department  and  the  rail- 
ways, the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  was  induced  to 


3©  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

remodel  some  old  cars  and  put  in  a  rack  of  pigeonholes  for  the 
sake  of  permitting  the  experiment  of  "traveling  post  offices," 
as  they  were  at  first  called.  In  about  sixty  days,  the  required 
arrangements  having  been  perfected,  the  foreman  of  what  was 
known  as  the  ''Eastern  Room"  in  the  Chicago  post  office  was 
called  upon  to  detail  two  of  his  clerks  to  go  on  the  road.  Mr. 
Armstrong  exacted  but  two  qualifications,  accuracy  and  rapidity 
of  distribution.  James  Converse  and  the  writer  were  chosen, 
and  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  1864,  the  first  car  in  the  United 
States,  equipped  and  dubbed  a  traveling  post  office,  left  the 
Wells  Street  station  of  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Rail- 
way, destined  for  Clinton,  Iowa. 

An  old  mail  agent  named  Bradley,  whose  hair  had  grown  gray 
wrestling  with  mail-bags,  was  the  paper  clerk  and  the  writer  was 
the  letter  clerk.  He  was  not  called  "  head  clerk  "  at  that  time, 
probably  out  of  deference  to  the  feelings  of  the  old  mail  agent. 
The  letters  were  stacked  up  in  a  generous  pile  on  the  case.  The 
principal  stations  only  had  been  put  in  separate  packages.  The 
first  series  of  stations,  Austin,  etc.,  were  put  in  a  package  num- 
ered  i.  Distribution  began  about  an  hour  before  the  train  was 
due  to  leave,  but,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  arrangement  of  the 
boxes  was  somewhat  strange  to  the  distributer,  he  carried  a 
few  letters  by  some  of  the  nearer  stations  on  the  first  trip. 

It  required  but  a  very  few  trips,  however,  to  demonstrate 
the  immediate  success  of  the  scheme,  and  soon  arrangements 
were  perfected  for  introducing  the  system  on  all  the  railway 
lines  leading  out  of  Chicago,  more  particularly  those  running 
east  and  west.  It  was,  however,  in  the  summer  of  1865  be- 
fore the  railway  post  office  system  received  the  formal  official 
sanction  of  the  Department,  and  it  was  introduced  on  the  North- 
Western,  Rock  Island,  Burlington,  Michigan  Southern,  Fort 
Wayne,  and  Michigan  Central  railroads,  in  the  order  named. 

From  this  small  beginning  in  a  crude  way  has  grown  the 
present  gigantic  Railway  Mail  Service.     To  George  B.  Arm- 


The  True  Railway  Mail     Service 

strong  belongs  the  sole  credit  of  its  conception.  The  details 
were  originated  and  wrought  out  by  him.  He  was  a  quick, 
keen  man,  full  of  nervous  force  and  energy.  He  was  a  man 
who  could  not  travel  in  ruts,  but  was  constantly  seeking  some 
better  and  shorter  way  of  accomplishing  the  aims  of  the  Post 
Office  Department  than  the  clumsy  and  slow-going  methods  in 
vogue  when  he  entered  the  service. 
Denver,  Col.,  1895. 

R.  F.  McCullough 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

George  B.  Armstrong  was  the  organizer  of  the  Railway 
Mail  Service.  To  this  work  Mr.  Armstrong  gave  his  personal 
attention,  often  going  over  the  routes  in  the  postal-cars,  that 
the  experience  of  the  clerks  and  his  own  observations  might 
be  of  benefit  to  the  service.  I  was  among  the  first  appointed 
to  this  service,  my  appointment  being  dated  September  6, 
1865,  beginning  service  September  loth,  same  year,  on  the 
Quincy  and  St.  Joseph  railway  post  office. 

I  enclose  my  original  appointment  papers  herewith.  It  is 
an  odd  paper  and  will  be  of  value  in  your  history.  As  you 
will  see,  we  had  no  instructions  then,  only  those  written. 

QuiNCY,  III.,  1895. 

Office  of  the  Superintendent,  R.  P.  O., 
Chicago,  III.,  September  6,  1866. 

Sir:  You  are  selected  as  clerk  in  the  railway  post  office 
on  the  railway  line  from  Quincy,  111.,  to  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 

You  are  selected  for  this  responsible  position  upon  the 
condition  that  the  duties  belonging  to  the  railway  post  office 
are  satisfactorily  performed,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  service 
promoted  by  a  faithful  devotion  of  your  personal  skill,  energy, 
and  intelligence  to  the  work;  that  the  rules,  regulations,  and 
instructions  of  the  Post  Office  Department  are  strictly  obeyed; 
that  a  correct  distribution  of  the  mails  is  made  in  such  a 
manner  as  you  may  be  instructed,  from  time  to  time,  by  the 


32-  The  True  Railway   Mail  Service 

General  Supt.  of  Railway  Post  Offices,  or  by  his  assistant, 
or  the  head  clerk  in  charge  of  the  Railway  P.  O.  for  the  time, 
and  that  due  connecting  of  the  mails  distributed  by  you  be 
made  as  far  as  practicable  in  order  that  the  public  may 
have  the  full  benefit  originally  contemplated  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  system. 

As  clerk  you  will  accompany  the  head  clerk,  and  with  him 
take  charge  of  the  mails  to  and  from  the  respective  offices  at 
the  termini  of  your  route,  and  register  your  name  in  the  "Re- 
gister of  Arrivals"  and  "Register  of  Departures"  of  railway 
clerks,  with  the  actual  hour  and  minute  of  your  arrival  at 
and  departure  therefrom,  unless  when,  in  case  of  departure, 
it  is  a  necessity  that  you  should  precede  the  mails  to  the  train, 
which  must  first  be  sanctioned  by  the  postmaster  where  the 
necessity  occurs.  It  is,  however,  laid  down  as  a  rule  that 
all  R.  P.  O.  clerks  shall  accompany  the  mail  to  and  from 
the  ends  of  their  respective  routes,  to  record  their  names  as 
having  been  actually  on  duty  at  the  time  specified,  excepting 
in  such  cases  where  the  Department,  the  Gen'l  Sup't,  his 
assistant,  or  a  P.  M.  at  either  one  of  the  terminal  offices 
of  route  may,  for  sufficient  reasons,  make  an  exception  for 
the  time  being. 

It  is  especially  enjoined  upon  all  Railway  P.  O.  clerks 
to  observe,  in  their  official  intercourse  with  the  public  and 
with  each  other,  the  strictest  courtesy,  and  to  obey  the  official 
instructions  of  their  respective  head  clerks  in  charge. 

Railway  P.  O.  clerks,  of  whatever  grade,  must  endeavor, 
by  intelligent  effort,  to  promote  the  positive  interests  of  the 
service  and  the  public. 

Disobedience  or  neglect  of  rules  and  instructions,  or  depart- 
ure from  official  propriety,  will  subject  the  offender  to  removal. 

The  P.  M.  at  St.  Joseph  will  arrange  the  order  in  which 
the  clerks  are  to  run,  and  designate  the  head  clerk  with 
whom  you  will  be  associated,  to  whom  you  will  report  for  duty. 

The  railway  distributing  service  will  be  commenced  on 
this  route  September  loth,  and  you  will  be  governed  accord- 
ingly. Very  truly  yours, 

G.  B.  Armstrong, 
R.  F.  McCuLLOUGH,  SpH  Ag't  6r=  Gen'l  Supt. 

St.  Joseph,  Mo.  R.  P.  0. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  33 

John  A.  Montgomery 

Superintendent  of  Mails,  Chicago,  III. 

I  first  met  George  B.  Armstrong  in  the  winter  of  1865,  in 
company  with  Colonel  J.  H.  Wickizer.  We  called  upon 
him  at  the  old  Government  Building  in  Chicago.  After 
passing  a  few  commonplace  remarks,  Mr.  Armstrong  began 
telling  us  of  the  great  revolution  the  distribution  of  the  mails 
in  transit  would  make,  the  vast  relief  it  would  be  to  all  dis- 
tributing post  offices  and  that  he  had  gone  far  enough  with 
experiments  to  be  fully  satisfied  of  the  entire  practicability 
of  the  new  service,  but  that  his  only  fear  was  that  Congress 
would  not  appropriate  sufficient  money  to  enable  him  to 
establish  the  service  on  a  sufficient  number  of  lines  to  fully 
convince  the  department  and  the  business  public  of  the 
benefits  sure  to  follow. 

Mr.  Armstrong  talked  with  great  fervor  and  seemed  very 
enthusiastic  over  what  he  repeatedly  termed  "  his  plan." 
Colonel  Wickizer,  at  that  time  a  special  agent  of  the  Post 
Office  Department,  observed  that  it  seemed  to  him  the  cost 
would  be  so  great  that  Congress  would  hardly  be  justified 
in  appropriating  the  necessary  money  to  place  the  traveling 
post  office  on  a  large  number  of  lines. 

Mr.  Armstrong  took  from  his  desk  a  package  of  letters 
and  papers,  and  read  aloud  from  several  of  the  letters,  which 
were  from  one  or  more  of  the  Assistants  Postmaster-General; 
all  of  them  giving  assurance  of  aid,  and  offering  suggestions 
and  asking  questions  regarding  the  new  service.  In  nearly 
every  one  of  those  letters  the  subject  of  cost  was  referred  to, 
and  Mr.  Armstrong  was  asked  if  it  would  not  be  feasible  to 
take  a  greater  number  of  clerks  from  the  distributing  post 
offices  and  place  them  in  the  traveling  post  offices,  and  thus 
keep  the  cost  of  this  particular  branch  of  the  service  within 
what  it  would  be  practicable  for  the  Postmaster-General   to 


34  The  True  Railway   Mail  Service 

use  from  the  general  appropriation  for  the  department,  for 
the  gradual  extension  of  this  service.  After  reading  from 
these  letters,  Mr.  Armstrong  quoted  from  letters  v^^hich  he 
had  v^ritten  in  answer  (copies  of  v^hich  he  had),  showing,  to 
his  satisfaction  at  least,  how  the  increased  expense  was  to 
be  met. 

After  this  meeting  I  did  not  se»  Mr.  Armstrong  again 
until  early  in  February,  1866,  when  I  was  appointed  a  rail- 
way postal  clerk,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  fre- 
quently. As  I  was  now  a  member  of  the  service,  I  took 
a  deep  interest  in  its  workings  and  development;  hence,  every 
word  he  had  to  say  on  that  subject  was  of  great  weight  and 
importance  to  me.  How  clear  his  conception  of  the  needs 
of  the  time,  and  what  was  necessary  to  fully  meet  those  needs, 
is  evidenced  by  the  almost  perfect  service  of  to-day.  His 
orders  to  us,  as  clerks,  comprehended  a  mastery  over  details 
which  seemed  impossible  to  one  who  had  not  had  an  actual 
experience  as  a  clerk.  His  talks  to  us  all  showed  that  he 
was  not  experimenting  as  to  results,  but  he  knew  beyond 
doubt  what  he  wanted  done,  and  was  able  to  tell  us  how  to 
doit. 

The  foundation  of  all  the  regulations  covering  the  Rail- 
way Mail  Service  to-day  can  be  seen  in  the  orders  issued  by 
Mr.  Armstrong  as  Superintendent  and  General  Superintend- 
ent. 

The  time  was  propitious,  the  necessities  pressing,  and  Mr. 
Armstrong,  with  his  energy,  intelligence,  and  creative  genius 
was  the  Moses  who  was  to  lead  the  government  to  better 
things.  To  him,  and  him  alone,  is  due  the  organization,  first 
practical  trial,  and  development  of  a  system  that  has  broad- 
ened and  grown  in  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  until  it  is  justly  recognized  as  the  most  important 
branch  of  the  greatest  and  best  post  office  establishment  extant. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  35 

Hiram  J.  Skeels 

Railway  Postal  Clerk. 

At  the  time  of  the  conception  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service 
I  was  Assistant  Postmaster  at  the  post  office  of  Onarga,  Illinois. 
My  duties  while  in  that  position  gave  me  a  fair  knowledge 
of  the  postal  business  as  performed  under  the  old  route  agent 
system,  and  I  was  frequently  called  upon  by  the  agents  on 
this  line  to  fill  their  runs.  In  doing  this  service  I  was  often 
obliged  to  remain  over  a  day  in  Chicago,  and  in  this  way 
became  personally  acquainted  with  George  B.  Armstrong. 
Being  often  thrown  in  personal  contact  with  him  and  hearing 
his  plans  discussed  at  length,  I  was  deeply  impressed  with 
the  idea  of  a  post  office  on  wheels,  as  advanced  by  him. 

About  the  month  of  July,  1864,  if  I  remember  correctly, 
Mr.  Armstrong  received  instructions  from  the  Department 
to  detail  a  route  agent  from  one  of  the  lines  terminating  at 
Chicago,  to  assist  him  in  preparing  plans  for  his  work.  For 
this  purpose  he  assigned  Harrison  Park  as  his  assistant,  and 
I  in  turn  received  an  appointment  in  July  of  that  year,  as 
distributing  clerk  in  the  Chicago  post  office,  to  act  as  route 
agent,  vice  Mr.  Park,  transferred.  I  remained  on  the  Illi- 
nois Central  run  until  January,  1864,  at  which  time  I  re- 
ceived at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Armstrong  a  regular  appointment 
as  route  agent,  Mr.  Armstrong  remarking  at  the  time,  that 
in  the  event  of  a  failure  in  his  plans  for  ''a  post  office  on 
wheels"  on  this  line,  I  should  resign  my  appointment  as 
route  agent,  provided  Mr.  Park  desired  to  resume  his  old 
place  on  the  road. 

I  was  afterward  appointed  railway  postal  clerk  on  the 
same  line  when  the  service  was  established  thereon  in  1865. 
I  could  not  fail  to  become  impressed  with  the  earnestness 
and  intrepidity  with  which  the  founder  of  the  service  entered 
upon  its  organization.     Obstacles  which  seemed  insurmount- 


36  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

able  were  surely  overcome,  but  not  without  the  hardest  work 
on  his-  part.  The  greatest  obstacle  which  presented  itself  to 
Mr.  Armstrong  in  his  endeavors  to  secure  recognition  for 
his  plans  was  in  the  Post  Office  Department  at  Washington. 
At  the  same  time,  the  railroad  companies  approached  with 
a  view  to  securing  proper  equipment  could  not  or  would  not, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  see  the  utility  of  the  system  and 
the  benefits  to  be  derived  therefrom.  The  Department  could 
not  see  a  satisfactory  return  for  the  outlay  involved,  and 
it  took  much  argument  and  persuasion,  together  with  the 
assistance  of  influence,  to  secure  the  consent  of  the  Depart- 
ment for  the  trial  of  the  service  that  was  granted.  Only 
one  railroad  company,  the  Chicago  and  North-Western,  had 
sufficient  confidence  in  Mr.  Armstrong's  project  to  consent 
to  fit  up  a  car  after  plans  furnished  by  him,  this  car  being 
placed  in  service  between  Chicago,  111.,  and  Clinton, 
Iowa.  If  I  remember  rightly,  the  letter-cases  in  this  car 
were  taken  from  the  Chicago  post  office  for  this  trial.  Neces- 
sarily the  appointments  of  this  infant  service  were  crude 
and  imperfect,  but  with  its  natural  growth  and  development, 
conveniences  not  then  obtainable  have  been  applied.  I  cannot 
see,  however,  that  the  service  of  to-day  differs  from  the  service 
as  first  organized,  only  as  affected  by  minor  details.  The 
great  and  central  idea,  that  of  a  distributing  post  office  on 
wheels,  as  instituted  and  developed  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  and 
the  fundamental  principles  governing  the  service,  are  still  the 
same. 
Chicago,  III.,  1895. 

Maurice  Crean 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 
I  entered  the  postal  service  in  October,  1853,  when  the  late 
Isaac  Cook  was  Postmaster  in  this  city.     Shortly  afterwards 
George  B.  Armstrong  became  the  chief,  Mr.  Cook's  time  being 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  37 

so  much  occupied  with  politics  and  affairs  that  he  found  it 
impossible  to  attend  to  all  the  duties  devolving  on  him.  Mr. 
Armstrong  soon  brought  order  out  of  chaos  by  his  superior 
knov^ledge  of  the  business. 

When  I  entered  the  service  a  part  of  my  route  was  the  Lake 
Superior  region,  in  the  mining  districts  surrounding  that  great 
inland  sea.  I  made  up  the  mail  for  the  upper  peninsula  of  Michi- 
gan and  tagged  the  pouches  once  a  month.  The  mail  matter 
was  loaded  at  the  Green  Bay  post  office,  and  thence  was  taken 
on  dogs-sleds  under  the  care  of  a  route  agent,  in  snow-shoes 
and  arctic  boots,  over  glare  ice  to  the  point  of  destination. 
On  one  occasion  as  the  sled  was  unloaded  at  Ontonagon  a  nest 
of  mice  was  discovered  therein.  No  doubt,  the  parental  couple 
burrowed  themselves  into  the  pouch  in  the  Green  Bay  post 
office  while  waiting  the  departure  of  the  agent,  and  it  took  him 
four  weeks  after  his  departure  to  reach  the  town  of  Hancock. 

I  remember  vividly  how  heartily  Mr.  Armstrong  laughed 
when  he  was  informed  the  following  month  that  the  mail  matter 
was  delayed  so  long  at  the  Green  Bay  post  office  that  a  pair  of 
mice  had  time  to  propagate  their  kind  in  the  pouches.  It  was 
then  he  said  to  me  that  he  thought  he  would  have  to 
devise  some  plan  by  which  the  mails  could  be  moved  so  rapidly 
that  mice  would  not  have  time  to  breed  in  transit.  I  have  no 
doubt  in  the  world  that  this  mouse  incident  did  a  great  deal  in 
calling^his  attention  to  the  unnecessary  delays  that  were  expe- 
rienced in  transporting  the  mails  in  the  then  unsettled  localities. 
He  then  and  there  said  to  me  that  he  was  determined  to  give 
the  little  depredators  no  other  chance  in  the  future  for  a  recur- 
rence of  such  a  violation  of  the  rules  of  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment. Mr.  Armstrong  at  once  secured  a  change  in  the  method 
of  serving  the  people  of  the  Lake  Superior  country  and  caused 
the  mail  to  be  made  up  twice,  instead  of  once  a  month,  and  had 
the  old  foot-messenger  abolished  and  his  place  taken  by  a 
mounted  horseman,  who  carried  the  letter  mail  from  the  Green 


38  The  True   Railway  Mail  Service 

Bay  post  office  to  Ontonagon.  After  this  incident  Mr.  Arm- 
strong devoted  every  moment  of  his  spare  time  to  the  organ- 
ization of  plans  to  secure  a  more  rapid  transmission  of  mails. 

He  unfolded  to  me  a  plan  over  which  he  had  brooded  for 
many  months,  by  which  the  mails  could  be  delivered  all  over 
the  country  in  much  less  time  than  was  then  required.  Long 
after  this,  an  experimental  postal  car  over  that  branch  of  the 
Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  known  as  the  Chicago  and 
Clinton,  Iowa,  line  was  put  on  and  the  success  of  his  idea  was 
immediately  conclusively  demonstrated.     This  was  in  1864. 

After  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  Mr.  Armstrong  took  me 
to  Cairo,  111.,  which  the  late  Montgomery  Blair,  then  Postmaster- 
General,  had  raised  to  the  rank  of  a  distributing  post  office 
to  accommodate  the  vast  army  and  navy  mails,  and  gave  me 
charge  of  the  western  room.  From  time  to  time  as  some 
new  idea  suggested  itself  to  him,  Mr.  Armstrong  would  discuss 
with  me  the  emanations  of  his  teeming  brain.  Many  a  sleep- 
less night  did  he  spend  in  his  room  in  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  at 
Cairo  elaborating  the  details  of  his  plans,  and  during  the  weeks 
of  his  sojourn  in  Cairo  I  often  wondered  how  he  maintained 
his  health  in  the  ''dismal  swamp"  for  want  of  much  needed 
and  invigorating  repose.  During  those  weeks  of  unremitting 
toil  he  perfected  his  arduous  labors  so  completely  that  a  letter 
mailed  in  Chicago  for  any  one  in  the  western  or  southwestern 
armies  reached  its  terminal  point  as  soon  as  a  passenger  on  the 
fastest  train  could  reach  it;  so  that  a  letter  for  Admiral  Porter 
from  the  Navy  Department  in  Washington  was  made  up  in 
the  Chicago  distributing  post  office  in  a  separate  pouch  and 
reached  his  flag-ship,  via  the  Illinois  Central  Railway,  as  soon 
as  the  admiral's  gunner  himself  could  have  reached  him  from 
this  city. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 


The  True  Railway   Mail  Service  39 

Nelson  G.  Summerfield 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

We  should  all  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  George  B.  Arm- 
strong, for  to  his  untiring  energy  and  fruitful  mind  are  we 
indebted  for  the  magnificent  system  of  Railway  Mail  Service 
in  operation  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land 
to-day. 

I  remember  well  his  early  struggles  with  the  skeptical  minds 
of  others  who  were  slow  to  see  the  dawn  that  was  already  break- 
ing over  the  firmament,  and  which  was  to  establish  a  new  era 
in  the  mail  service  of  the  country,  and  at  the  same  time  stamp 
George  B.  Armstrong  as  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  his 
time.  Though  slow  to  act,  the  government  finally  recognized 
the  importance  of  this  measure,  and  it  w^as  my  good  fortune  to 
be  among  the  first  railway  mail  employes  selected  to  illustrate 
Mr.  Armstrong's  theory,  the  success  of  which  is  now  a  matter 
of  history.  And  as  an  evidence  of  the  thorough  mastery  of  the 
subject  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Armstrong,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  very  little  improvement,  or  necessity  for  improvement,  in 
this  service  has  been  made  since  his  time. 

I  make  this  statement  from  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  facts 
in  the  case,  as  at  the  time  Mr.  Armstrong  was  making  the  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  have  his  theory  given  a  trial  he  held  the 
position  of  Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  and  I  was  a  clerk 
in  the  distributing  department  of  the  Chicago  post  office. 
I  was  consequently  brought  in  daily  contact  with  him,  and  he, 
upon  several  occasions  and  in  a  most  enthusiastic  manner,  out- 
lined his  theory  as  to  the  requirements  of  the  service  and  the 
incalculable  benefits  to  be  derived  therefrom. 

I  was  appointed  a  clerk  on  the  Chicago  and  Centralia  railway 
post  office  line,  January  23, 1866,  and  commenced  duty  with 
the  establishment  of  the  service  on  that  line,  the  clerks  being 
selected  by  Mr.  Armstrong  as  the  lines  were  put  in  operation. 


40  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

While  connected  with  the  service,  I  witnessed  its  growth, 
from  two  clerks  to  5,000  clerks  or  more,  and  during  that  time 
have  seen  many  important  changes;  but  I  fail  to  note  in  a  single 
instance  a  radical  departure  from  the  theory  as  promulgated 
by  Mr.  Armstrong,  and  I  therefore  repeat,  that  we  should  all 
do  honor  to  the  memory  of  George  B.  Armstrong  as  the 
founder  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 

Manning  S.  Poole 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

I  was  appointed  to  fill  the  position  of  postal  clerk  on  the  run 
between  Chicago,  111.,  and  Burlington,  Iowa,  in  December,  1864. 
Prior  to  that  date  George  B.  Armstrong  had  spent  some  time 
in  Washington  laboring  with  the  Department  in  his  endeavors 
to  secure  recognition  for  his  plans  for  the  establishment  of  a 
complete  Railway  Mail  Service  in  the  United  States,  and  finally 
secured  authority  to  start  three  lines  in  the  West,  as  an  experi- 
ment. The  first  and  really  experimental  line  was  placed  on 
the  Chicago  and  North- Western  Railway,  between  Chicago,  111., 
and  Clinton,  Iowa.  One  of  the  lines  early  chosen  was  the  Chi- 
cago, Burlington  and  Quincy  Railway.  After  the  service  on  the 
C.  B.  &  Q.  had  been  in  operation  a  few  months,  a  pro- 
nounced opposition  and  hostility  arose  against  it  among 
the  members  of  Congress  through  whose  district  the  line 
passed,  arising  from  a  feeling  that  they  would  not  be  allowed 
a  fair  political  representation  among  the  men  selected  to  fill  the 
appointments  on  this  road,  and  who  opposed  the  measure  on 
purely  political  grounds. 

With  the  appointment  of  Governor  Denison  to  the  office  of 
Postmaster- General,  the  attack  on  Mr.  Armstrong  was  renewed 
and  in  order  to  ascertain  if  the  service  was  really  a  benefit 
to  the  people  of  the  country  served  thereby,  instructions  were 
issued  to  Mr.  Armstrong  to  communicate  with  the  Postmaster 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  41 

at  each  head  office  served  by  the  new  system,  and  to  secure  by 
letter  his  opinion  of  the  results,  practical  or  otherwise,  derived 
from  the  service.  Blanks  were  accordingly  prepared  and 
issued  to  each  Postmaster  at  the  offices  concerned.  On  my 
return  to  Chicago  the  week  following  the  time  at  which  these 
inquiries  were  instituted,  I  found  that  the  replies  received  from 
all  offices  were  eminently  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Armstrong,  and 
as  afterwards  proved,  to  the  Post  Office  Department.  The 
reply  from  the  Postmaster  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  Fox  Abra- 
hams, I  remember,  was  very  enthusiastic  and  emphatic  in  its 
praise  of  the  new  service. 

Previous  to  the  time  of  the  actual  installation  of  the  service, 
I  was  a  clerk  in  the  distributing  department  of  the  Chicago  post 
office,  Mr.  Armstrong  being  at  that  time  Assistant  Postmaster. 
For  a  long  time  prior  to  the  actual  realization  of  his  plans,  Mr. 
Armstrong  had  been  agitating  the  advancement  of  the  postal 
service  in  the  United  States,  knowing  that  this  country  was  far 
behind  other  countries  in  respect  to  its  postal  facilities.  In  a 
conversation  with  me  he  once  remarked  that  when  explaining 
his  ideas  and  methods  before  both  Congressional  committees, 
be  urged  a  greater  liberality  in  the  establishment  of  a  railway 
postal  system  as  adapted  to  our  republic  than  was  granted 
under  the  monarchies  of  the  old  world. 

Some  time  in  Feburary,  1865,  I  was  ordered  to  accompany 
Mr.  Armstrong  on  a  trip  to  Cairo,  111.  His  purpose  was  the 
organization  of  postal  service  on  the  main  line  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railway  between  Columbus,  Ky.,  and  Freeport,  111., 
and  also  on  the  Chicago  branch  of  the  same  railroad  from 
Cairo  to  Chicago,  111.  An  experimental  line  was  then  in  opera- 
tion on  the  CHnton  division  of  the  Chicago  and  North- Western 
Railway,  as  I  have  before  stated. 

My  close  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Armstrong 
gave  me  a  clear  insight  into  his  character,  and  a  perfect  concep- 
tion of  his  desires  in  conjunction  with  the  workings  of  the  Rail- 


42  The  True  Railway   Mail  Service 

way  Mail  Service.    He  was  satisfied  that  this  system  was  the 
only  one  that  could  be  adapted  to  this  country. 
Chicago,  III.,  1895. 

John  E.  Thomas 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

I  entered  the  postal  service  in  August,  1864,  and  I  have  been 
in  the  service  continuously  since  to  the  present  day.  As  one 
of  the  oldest  clerks  in  the  service  (there  are  few  of  the  men  who 
were  associated  with  Mr.  Armstrong  in  the  early  days  of  his 
great  work  that  are  yet  alive) ,  I  take  pleasure  in  contributing 
what  I  may  to  a  eulogy  of  his  useful  life. 

In  the  year  1868,  I  received  notice  from  him  that  I  had  been 
promoted  from  a  route  agency,  the  position  to  which  I  was 
originally  appointed,  to  a  head  clerkship  on  the  railway  post 
office  line  from  Bloomington  to  Freeport,  111.  I  was  brought  in 
close  association  with  Mr.  Armstrong  during  the  establishment 
of  the  railway  post  office  on  this  road.  He  was  truly  one  of 
nature's  noblemen,  broad-minded,  large-hearted,  and  with  a 
sympathetic  nature  for  all.  There  was  not  an  obstacle  too 
large  for  him  to  overcome  in  his  labor  of  pushing  his  plan  to  a 
successful  culmination,  and  the  enthusiasm  that  he  showed 
on  every  occasion  inspired  every  one  with  the  same  quality. 
He  seemed  to  have,  at  the  time  I  became  acquainted  with  him, 
but  one  aim  in  life:  to  make  the  Railway  Mail  Service  a 
complete  success.  He  talked  about  it  continuously;  was 
always  devising  improvements;  was  ever  ready  to  receive 
suggestions  and  was  a  living  example  at  all  times  and  in  all 
places  of  the  power  of  an  earnest  man  whose  life  was  di- 
rected to  the  achievement  of  a  grand  result. 

But  more  can  be  said,  and  this  more  is  the  greatest  praise 
that  can  be  paid  to  Mr.  Armstrong's  perspicacity  and  his  in- 
tellectual breadth.  The  service  of  to-day  is  the  same  ser- 
vice that  he  left  when  he  died.     In  general  outline,  in  its  larger 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  43 

phase,  in  its  fundamentals,  no  improvements,  that  I  can  see, 
have  been  made.  And  if  they  had  been,  I  am  sure  they  would 
have  been  brought  to  my  attention.  Indeed,  the  large  and 
expansive  brain  of  George  B.  Armstrong  seemed  to  cover  not 
only  all  the  necessities  of  the  early  times  but  to  take  in  the 
future  development  of  the  service. 
Bloomington,  III.,  1895. 

Edgar  Isbell 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

I  entered  the  Railway  Mail  Service  in  April,  1865,  receiving 
rav  appointment  through  the  hands  of  George  B.  Armstrong, 
then  Superintendent,  with  head  quarters  at  Chicago.  I  was 
appointed  to  the  run  between  Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  being  one 
of  the  crew  to  take  the  first  run  made  on  that  hne.  Previous 
to  receiving  an  appointment  as  mail  agent,  the  term  then  used, 
I  was  for  a  time  a  letter-distributer  in  the  Chicago  post 
office.  Our  accommodations  on  the  Chicago  and  St.  Louis 
line  were  of  the  most  meager  kind,  the  postal  apartment  be- 
ing limited  to  a  portion  of  a  baggage-car  fixed  up  to  suit  the 
demands  of  the  service,  even  this  space  being  secured  through 
hard  work  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Armstrong.  As  I  remember 
the  relations  between  the  Department  and  the  railroad  com- 
panies, the  latter  were  not  inclined  to  put  much  confidence  in 
the  scheme  for  handling  and  distributing  the  mails  en  route. 
The  concessions  granted  by  the  railroad  companies  would  not, 
I  am  sure,  have  been  granted  at  that  time  but  for  the  un- 
tiring efforts  and  indomitable  spirit  exhibited  by  Mr.  Arm- 
strong in  his  official  intercourse  with  them,  this  spirit  finally 
overcoming  the  opposition  under  which  the  service  was  started. 

The  beginnings  of  the  great  service  seem,  to  look  back  from 
the  present,  very  crude  and  simple,  but  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  took  an  active  part  in  its  organization  and  commencement 
the  possibilities  of  the  future  warranted  the  brightest  and  most 


44  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

sanguine  expectations.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  use 
of  a  whole  car  for  postal  purposes  was  hardly  dreamed  of  by  or- 
dinary minds,  but  I  know  that  Mr.  Armstrong  had,  as  a  part  of 
his  scheme,  the  idea  of  a  full  postal-car  as  we  find  it  to-day; 
and  it  is  surprising  to  note  how  few  changes  there  have  been 
in  the  details  of  the  service  during  the  twenty-four  years  that 
have  elapsed  since  his  death.  The  plans  of  the  service  were  so 
carefully  elaborated  and  improved  by  him  before  he  made 
the  practical  test,  that  with  but  few  minor  alterations  and  ad- 
ditions the  service  to-day  in  its  larger  aspect  is  no  more  and 
no  less  than  the  service  that  he  gave  to  the  country  during  his 
useful  life. 

Chicago,  III.,  1895. 

Isaac  A.  Crane 

Railway  Postal  Clerk 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  George  B.  Armstrong,  October 
15, 1865.  At  that  time  I  received  notice  from  Mr.  Armstrong 
to  the  effect  that  I  had  been  appointed  a  railway  postal  clerk, 
and  was  requested  to  report  at  his  office  for  instructions  as  soon 
as  possible.  I  called  on  Mr.  Armstrong  personally,  and  from 
him  received  instructions  as  to  my  duties  in  the  new  position 
that  I  was  to  occupy,  and  was  assigned  to  a  run  on  the  Chicago, 
Rock  Island  and  Pacific  Railway,  between  Chicago,  111., 
and  Davenport,  Iowa.  I  remained  on  this  run  four  or  five  years, 
and  from  there  was  transferred  to  the  Chicago  and  St.  Louis 
line,  performing  service  thereon  some  six  or  seven  years. 

During  my  early  connection  with  the  Railway  Mail  Service  I 
was  thrown  in  frequent  personal  contact  with  Mr.  Armstrong, 
and  had  many  conversations  with  him  in  regard  to  the  service 
as  then  constituted,  and  its  future  development.  In  his  con- 
versations, in  which  were  outlined  his  plans  for  the  extension 
and  development  of  the  system,  Mr.  Armstrong  seemed  to  have 
the  grandest  conceptions  of  all  that  should  constitute  a  perfect 


The  True  Railway   Mail  Service  45 

postal  service,  and  I  am  constrained  to  say  that  in  my  opinion 
the  method  and  appliances  of  the  present  day  are  simply  an 
expression  of  the  original  plan  as  conceived  in  the  brain  of  Mr. 
Armstrong,  and  inaugurated  by  him  as  the  first  Superintendent. 
Chicago,  III.,  1895. 


An  Historic  Letter 

(From  the  Chicago  Post  Office  Bulletin,  November  4,  1899.) 

The  very  interesting  letter,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy, 
was  loaned  to  the  Postmaster  by  George  B.  Armstrong,  eldest 
son  of  the  late  George  B.  Armstrong,  founder  of  the  Railway 
Mail  Service.  Samuel  Hoard,  the  writer  of  this  historic  letter, 
was  appointed  Postmaster  of  Chicago  on  March  9,  1865.  ^^ 
was  a  warm  friend  of  Mr.  Armstrong,  who  was  first  appointed 
Assistant  Postmaster  of  the  Chicago  office  in  1854.  In  1856 
Mr.  Armstrong  resigned  that  position  to  go  into  business  with 
Rufus  Hatch,  of  New  York.  In  the  great  panic  of  1857  the 
firm  failed.  In  1858  Mr.  Armstrong  again  became  Assistant 
Postmaster,  and  held  that  office  uninterruptedly  until  1865. 

Post  Office,  Chicago,  III.,  April  20,  1865. 
Hon.  William  Denison,  Postmaster- General, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir:  Permit  me  to  address  you  in  regard  to  a  subject  I  deem 
very  important  to  the  postal  service  of  the  United  States  on 
railroads.  You  may  not  be  personally  acquainted  with  George 
B.  Armstrong,  of  this  city,  nor  aware  that  he  has  acted  for  many 
years  as  Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago,  in  which  position  his 
mind  was  directed  to  the  question  of  the  feasibility  of  effecting 
a  distribution  of  mail  matter  on  railroad  trains,  so  that  such 
matter  would  reach  its  destination  from  twelve  to  twenty-four 
hours  in  advance  of  the  time  required  if  the  matter  should  be 
distributed  according  to  the  ordinary  established  mode.  I 
have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  the  plans  devised  by  Mr.  Arm- 
strong have  been  of  very  great  public  utility,  and  if  they  could 
be  generally  extended  throughout  the  country  the  value  and 
importance  of  the  system  could  be  fully  appreciated  and  as 
fully  approved  by  the  public. 

Mr.  Armstrong  has  been  Assistant  Postmaster  at  this  place, 

46 


V  ^^ 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  47 

and  at'the  same  time^held^the^appointment  of  special  railroad 
agent,  and  in  assuming  the  duties  of  Postmaster  here  I  con- 
sidered that  the  two  positions  were  so  far  incompatible  with 
each  other  that  I  could  not,  with  any  sense  of  propriety, 
permit  their  being  combined  in  the  same  person;  and  though 
I  felt  that  Mr.  Armstrong's  services  would  be  very  desirable 
as  Assistant  Postmaster  here,  yet  they  would  be  indispensable 
to  the  postal  service  in  perfecting  the  railway  system. 

With  the  corps  of  efl&cient  clerks  now  in  this  office,  educated 
under  Mr.  Armstrong's  able  supervision,  I  do  not  deem  it  very 
difficult  to  find  a  gentleman  competent  for  the  position  of  Assist- 
ant Postmaster,  while  his  loss  to  the  postal  service  in  perfecting 
the  railroad  system  would  be  almost  irreparable. 

I  would,  therefore,  most  earnestly  recommend  that  Mr.  Arm- 
strong be  retained  in  the  position  of  special  railroad  agent,  or 
that  he  be  appointed  to  one  of  the  places  designed  to  be 
filled  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  subdivision  5  of  the  act 
relating  to  postal  laws,  approved  March  3,  1865,  and  that  his 
salary  should  correspond  to  the  importance  of  the  position  and 
the  eminent,  if  not  unequaled,  ability  that  Mr.  Armstrong  will 
bring  to  its  performance. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Samuel  Hoard, 

Postmaster, 


Schuyler;  Colfax's  Address 

Oration  of  the  Ex-Vice-President  of  the  United  States  at  the 

Dedication  of  the  George  B.  Armstrong  Monument 

in  Chicago,  in  May,  1881 

(Reprinted  from  the  Chicago  Inter  Ocean,  May  20,  1881) 
Fellow-Citizens:  I  come  with  great  pleasure  from  my 
Indiana  home  to  join  with  these  postal  officials  and  the  busi- 
ness men  of  this  great  city  of  the  Northwest  in  the  dedication 
of  this  bust  and  monument.  We  have  monuments  in  our 
Republic  for  the  great  commanders  of  the  army  and  navy,  for 
distinguished  statesmen  and  eloquent  orators,  for  the  heroes 
of  science  and  art,  for  daring  leaders  in  discovery,  and  for  bril- 
liant exemplars  in  philanthropy;  and  we  come  together  to-day 
to  attest  to  the  present  and  the  future,  to  our  own  generation 
and  to  posterity,  how  much  we  owe  to  George  B.  Armstrong,  of 
Chicago,  whose  bronze  bust,  erected  by  the  postal  clerks  of  the 
Railway  Mail  Service,  we  inaugurate  in  this  most  appropriate 
place. 

The  vast  army  mails  came  into  the  Chicago  distributing  post- 
office,  of  which  Mr.  Armstrong  was  the  Assistant  Postmaster, 
in  immense  masses,  filling  its  rooms  and  bags  to  overflowing. 
And  sometimes,  with  its  heavy  office- work  proper,  they  were  one, 
two,  and  even  three  weeks  behind  in  their  distribution  and 
forwarding.  To  remedy  this  glaring  defect,  so  full  of  sadness 
to  our  soldiers  so  far  away,  and  to  their  families  suffering  the 
agonies  of  distress  at  home,  was  the  idea  which  suggested  itself 
to  Mr.  Armstrong's  active  and  fertile  mind.  Indeed,  it  took 
possession  of  him  literally,  and  for  months  he  gave  nearly  all 
of  his  waking  hours  and  sleepless  nights  to  the  problem.  One 
plan   after   another  was  conceived,  considered,  and  rejected 

48 


THE  GEORGE  B.  ARMSTRONG  MEMORIAL 
At  the  Adams  Street  Entrance  of  the  Government  Buildin&r.  Chicago. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  49 

as  impracticable  or  inadequate.  But  at  last  the  true  thought 
flashed  upon  him,  and  the  germ  of  the  present  system  came  into 
existence  in  his  mind.  Slowly  but  surely,  patiently  but  persist- 
ently, he  elaborated  and  perfected  it  and  then,  full  of  this  new 
idea,  he  determined  to  submit  it  in  person  to  the  President  and 
Postmaster- General,  Vice-President  and  Speaker  [who  was 
Schuyler  Colfax],  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives. 
Some  few  finally  yielded  to  his  enthusiastic  explanations  of  it. 
But  at  first  he  met  obstacles  in  every  direction  that  would  have 
cooled  down  any  one  less  determined.  The  greatly  increased 
expense,  the  tendency  of  officials  to  adhere  to  what  had  been 
tested,  the  common  disposition  to  doubt  the  untried,  all  were 
against  him.  How  many  weary  journeys  he  made  to  Washing- 
ton during  the  closing  years  of  President  Lincoln's  first  term, 
how  many  arguments  he  submitted  for  his  new  scheme  before 
the  Senate  and  House  post  office  committees  and  government 
officials,  how  his  quenchless  enthusiasm  at  last  enlisted  Mr. 
Lincoln's  admiration  and  support,  how  he  finally  triumphed 
over  all  the  multitudinous  objections  that  were  such  stumbling- 
blocks  in  his  pathway,  I  can  only  refer  to  in  this  single  sentence. 

Fortunately,  his  indomitable  will  sustained  him.  His  zeal 
was  supplemented  and  reinforced  by  his  most  admirable  char- 
acter; and  the  indisputable  merit  of  his  plan,  which  he  was 
able  to  vindicate  and  maintain  triumphantly,  against  all  cavil 
and  opposition,  carried  it  through  Congress.  And  with  the 
authority  he  had  thus  fairly  extorted  from  our  law-makers  by 
his  persuasive  appeals  and  energetic  determination,  he  returned 
to  Chicago  to  organize  what  he  feared  might  be  the  still 
more  difficult  task  of  putting  it  into  successful  operation. 

The  first  experiment  of  Railway  Mail  Service,  under  Mr. 
Armstrong's  new  idea,  was  in  August,  1864,  and  to  the  Chicago 
and  North-Western  Railway  belongs  the  credit  of  the  first  op- 
portunity for  its  practical  exemplification.  The  railway  com- 
panies, at  that  time,  looked  with  undisguised  disfavor  on  the 


50  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

new  plan.  It  needed  more  than  one  man  in  each  postal  car; 
and  would  evidently  require  more  elaborate  cars  with  enlarged 
space  and  better  accommodations.  But  the  officers  of  the 
Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  finally  yielded  to  Mr. 
Armstrong's  persistent  importunities.  A  letter-case  was  put 
into  an  old  route  agent's  car  in  which  to  distribute  letters  in- 
tended for  the  East,  and  two  men  were  detailed  from  the  eastern 
room  of  the  Chicago  distributing  post  office,  to  see  if  Mr.  Arm- 
strong's theory  would  really  work  well  in  practice.  And  this 
route  agent's  car,  fitted  up  to  meet  the  emergency,  and  those 
two  clerks,  detailed  without  extra  pay  from  the  Chicago  post 
office,  formed  the  feeble  beginnings  of  the  great  service  which 
to-day  extends  from  ocean  to  ocean,  over  the  entire  railway 
system  of  the  country. 

No  sooner  had  the  first  experimental  line  been  put  into  opera- 
tion than  the  Post  Office  Department,  the  railway  companies, 
and  the  business  men  of  Chicago,  especially,  realized  that  Mr. 
Armstrong's  idea  was  all  that  he  had  claimed  it  to  be;  and  the 
obstacles  that  at  first  beset  him  on  every  side  rapidly  disap- 
peared. From  every  mouth  came  praise  and  encouragement 
and  good  wishes  for  the  grand  improvement  he  had  conceived 
and  executed.  The  new  system  rapidly  proved  its  great  value 
to  the  public,  and  especially  to  commercial  interests.  Two 
cars,  imperfect  in  their  conveniences,  and  really  laughable  when 
compared  with  the  handsomely  furnished  postal  cars  of  to-day, 
were  placed  on  the  Chicago  and  North- Western  Railway,  be- 
tween Chicago  and  Clinton,  la.,  and  immediately  the  service 
upon  that  line  and  connected  roads  became  more  complete  than 
had  ever  been  enjoyed,  or  even  thought  of,  except  in  the  mind 
of  the  originator  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service.  Then  followed 
the  service  on  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island,  and  Pacific  Railway, 
that  being  the  second  western  railroad  that  gave  hospitable 
welcome  to  this  great  postal  improvement. 

Mr.  Armstrong  now  insisted  that,  as  in  the  old  cars  the  clerks 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  51 

were  cramped  for  room,  there  must  be  new  ones  specially  built 
and  arranged  for  the  service.  The  railroad  companies  needed 
no  argument  at  that  time  to  induce  them  to  build  nev^  cars, 
models  indeed  of  comfort  and  convenience,  which  quickly  super- 
seded the  renovated  route-agent  cars.  The  first  of  these  new 
cars  was  built  by  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Railway  in 
1867,  after  plans  especially  prepared  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  and 
the  Chicago,  Burlington,  and  Quincy,  the  Chicago  and  Alton, 
and  Illinois  Central  soon  after  did  likewise. 

The  same  progress  being  made  in  rapid  succession  on  the 
trunk  lines  at  the  East,  the  administration  acquiesced  in  Mr. 
Armstrong's  suggestion  that  this  great  work,  which  was  too 
much  for  one  man  to  be  responsible  for,  should  be  made  into  two 
divisions,  and  Mr.  Armstrong  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
western  division,  being  all  the  country  Northwest  of  the  Ohio. 
However,  he  remained  practically  at  the  head  of  the  service, 
constantly  planning  to  increase  its  efficiency  and  being  daily 
consulted  about  the  numberless  details  of  the  expanding 
work.  W  hatever  was  done  to  perfect  it  was  done  by  him. 
The  impress  of  his  active  mind,  his  ambitious  will,  his  energetic 
labor  was  stamped  upon  the  whole  growth  of  the  Railway 
Mail  Service. 

No  longer  a  theory,  it  had  by  this  time  become  a  grand  fact; 
not  merely  an  idea,  but  a  necessity  of  our  postal  system.  And 
when  General  Grant  became  President  in  1869,  the  greatness 
and  indispensable  character  of  the  service  was  given  by  his  ad- 
ministration more  complete  and  unreserved  ofiicial  recognition 
than  it  had  received  since  its  birth.  That  administration 
happened  to  have  in  its  official  membership  one  that  had  warm- 
ly supported  Mr.  Armstrong's  plan  from  its  first  revelation  by 
him  [this  was  Mr.  Colfax's  modest  way  of  referring  to  his  own 
valuable  assistance  in  securing  recognition  for  the  new  ser- 
vice], and  President  Grant  had  also  quite  early  become  con- 
vinced of  its  great  value.    Mr.  Armstrong  was  summoned  to 


52  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

Washington,  and  by  his  plans  for  the  future  increase  of  the 
efficiency  of  the  system,  the  United  States  was  subdivided  into 
six  divisions,  at  the  head  of  each  of  which  was  placed  an 
Assistant  Superintendent,  all  to  be  under  the  direction  of  a 
General  Superintendent,  with  headquarters  at  Washington. 
Mr.  Armstrong  was  made  the  first  General  Superintendent 
in  the  spring  of  1869.  Congress  made  more  generous  appro- 
priations, and  the  work  was  pushed  vigorously  forward,  so 
that  before  his  death  the  railway  postal  system  was  on  every 
trunk  line  in  the  United  States.  It  had  been  a  favorite  idea 
with  Mr.  Armstrong  to  have  a  fast  mail  service  placed  upon  the 
trunk  line  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  shortening  the 
mail  schedule  across  the  continent  at  least  two  days.  But 
while  he  was  elaborating  the  details  of  what  he  intended 
should  be  the  crowning  feature  of  his  system,  death  overtook 
him,  and  his  labors  were  brought  to  a  sudden  close.  He  died 
in  Chicago,  May  5,  187 1,  ten  years  ago  this  month,  from  over- 
work in  his  too  close  application  to  the  wants  of  the  public,  and 
to  the  service  which  was  the  foremost  thought  and  the  personal 
pride  of  his  useful  life. 

As  a  postal  official  Mr.  Armstrong  was  acknowledged  by  all 
who  knew  him  to  be  the  ablest  of  our  century.  He  was  in- 
tensely alive  to  the  wants  of  the  people,  full  of  energy  in  every- 
thing he  undertook,  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  workings 
of  the  Post  Office  Department,  and  generally  consulted  on  all 
important  postal  questions.  President  Lincoln  had  such 
faith  in  his  practical  wisdom  that  he  urged  him  personally  to 
go  to  Europe  as  our  Postal  Commissioner,  so  that  the  Ameri- 
can postal  service  might  have  the  benefit  of  his  observations 
and  study  there.  But  Mr.  Armstrong's  own  project,  the 
ambition  of  his  life  was  the  Railway  Mail  Service;  and  he  was 
too  devoted  to  its  success  to  accept  any  other  honor. 

With  a  nobility  of  character  that  impressed  all  who  came  in 
contact  with  him,  he  had  a  mind  of  great  originality  and  force; 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  53 

and  these  grand  characteristics,  conjoined  to  his  remarkable 
executive  ability,  fitted  him  admirably  for  the  great  work 
which  he  planned,  and  which  he  fortunately  lived  to  see  so 
successfully  carried  into  execution  throughout  our  continental 
domain.  .  .   . 


Early  Days  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service 

Address  Delivered  by  Postmaster  E.  W.  Keyes  of  Madison, 
Wisconsin,  at  a  Banquet  Given  to  Postmaster- 
General  Smith  in  Chicago 

(From  the  Chicago  Post  Office  Bulletin,  April  25,  1900.) 
Postmaster  E.   W.   Keyes,  of  Madison,  Wisconsin,  in  re- 
sponding to   the  toast,  **  Early  Days   of  the   Railway  Mail 
Service,"  said: 

The  Post  Office  Department  is  of  very  great  importance  to 
the  people.  It  can  almost  be  said  to  be  the  most  important 
department  of  the  government.  It  is  nearest  the  people.  Its 
great  advantages  are  realized,  and  are  constantly  before  the 
minds  of  the  people.  The  people  appreciate  highly  the  favors 
they  receive  through  this  source.  This  branch  of  the  govern- 
mental service  is  more  popular  than  any  other  department  of 
the  government. 

We  hardly  realize  the  tremendous  forward  strides  which  have 
been  made  by  the  post  office  and  mail  service  since  i86t,  when 
Abraham  Lincoln  became  President.  The  War  of  Secession 
succeeded  that  event;  yet  the  general  interests  of  the  people 
during  that  period  were  not  neglected.  The  great  interests  of 
the  postal  service  kept  on  apace  and  developed  into  the  splendid 
system  which  now  prevails.  There  was  a  wide  difference  be- 
tween the  old  methods  and  the  new  methods.  The  time  had 
arrived  when  great  change  was  impending,  when  the  needs  of 
the  service  demanded  relief.  That  relief  came  almost  in  the 
twinkling  of  an  eye.  It  was  decreed  that  the  service  with  one 
bound  should  be  placed  upon  the  highest  pinnacle  of  efficiency. 
The  old  methods  of  railway  mail  transportation  were  to  be 
relegated  to  the  rear,  and  a  system  was  to  be  inaugurated 
upon  a  new  plan  of  operation. 

54 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  55 

One  man  only  had  this  grand  scheme  in  his  mind.  He  was 
the  late  George  B.  Armstrong,  Assistant  Postmaster  of  Chicago. 
He  was  the  Moses  who  led  the  service  out  of  the  wilderness  into 
the  promised  land.  And  he  became  the  originator  of  the  Rail- 
way Mail  Service  of  to-day. 

The  early  days  of  this  service  were  not  always  bright  and 
promising.  Mr.  Armstrong  found  obstacles  in  his  pathway; 
prejudices  had  to  be  overcome,  and  the  doubters  had  to  be  con- 
vienced  of  the  practicability  of  the  scheme  which  he  had  orig- 
inated and  commended.  I  was  familiar  with  his  struggles, 
embarrassments,  and  the  difficulties  which  he  encountered. 
In  fact,  I  was  a  co-worker  with  him  in  pushing  the  matter  for- 
ward. His  enthusiasm  was  unbounded;  his  confidence  in  his 
plan  was  never  shaken,  and  his  determination  to  make  it  a  suc- 
cess never  abated.  He  realized  that  some  one  must  solve  the 
problem  of  a  better  and  speedier  means  for  the  distribution  of 
the  mails.  He  saw  the  great  necessity  for  improvement  in  the 
transmission  and  distribution  of  mail  matter.  He  was  equal  to 
the  emergency.  After  he  had  become  fully  convinced  of  the 
practicability  of  his  scheme  of  railway  mail  service,  he  applied 
to  the  Postmaster-General  for  assistance.  After  frequent  con- 
ferences with  the  authorities  on  the  subject,  it  was  decided  to 
give  him  an  opportunity  to  test  the  merits  of  his  project.  In 
pursuance  of  this  decision  this  letter  was  addressed  to  him: 

Post  Office  Department, 
Washington,  D.  C,  July  i,  1864. 
George  B.  Armstrong,  Chicago,  111. 

Sir:  You  are  authorized  to  test  by  actual  experiment  upon 
such  route  or  routes  as  you  may  select  at  Chicago  the  plans 
proposed  by  you  for  simplifying  the  mail  service.  You  will 
arrange  with  the  railroad  companies  to  furnish  suitable  cars  for 
traveling  post-offices,  designate  head  offices,  with  their  depen- 
dent offices,  prepare  forms  of  blanks  and  instructions  for  all 
such  offices  and  those  on  the  railroad  not  head  offices;  also  for 
clerks  of  traveling  post-offices. 


56  The  True  Railway   Mail  Service 

To  aid  you  in  this  work,  you  may  select  some  suitable  route 
agent  whose  place  can  be  supplied  by  a  substitute  at  the  expense 
of  the  Department.  When  your  arrangements  are  completed 
you  will  report  them  in  full. 

M.  Blair, 
Postmaster-General . 

Armed  with  this  authority,  he  was  not  slow  in  arranging  for 
the  test  service,  though  in  a  primitive  manner.  His  first  ex- 
periment was  tried  upon  the  Chicago  and  North-Western  Rail- 
way line  from  Chicago  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  during  the  summer 
of  the  same  year.  The  experiment  worked  so  well  and  gave 
such  grand  satisfaction  that  in  the  two  years  following  the 
service  was  extended  to  all  other  railroads  in  Illinois. 

While  this  great  improvement  was  going  forward  and  being 
introduced  upon  the  lines  of  railroad  in  Illinois,  I  was  serving 
my  first  term  of  five  consecutive  terms  as  Postmaster  at  Madi- 
son. Its  great  importance  attracted  my  especial  attention,  and 
I  concluded  that  if  it  was  a  good  thing  for  our  neighboring 
state  of  Illinois,  it  was  likely  to  prove  a  benefit  and  advantage  to 
my  own  state,  Wisconsin.  I  had  watched  the  experiment  with 
a  great  deal  of  interest.  Mr.  Armstrong  was  an  old  friend  of 
mine  in  the  service,  and  we  worked  together  in  this  matter  with 
a  hearty  co-operation.  I  realized  that  it  would  require  a  strong 
pull  to  introduce  the  system  into  Wisconsin,  and  I  went  to 
work  in  earnest  in  behalf  of  the  project.  And  my  first  step  was 
to  draft  a  memorial  adressed  to  the  Postmaster- General,  to 
be  passed  through  our  legislature,  as  follows : 

A  memorial  to  the  Postmaster- General  for  the  early  estab- 
lishment of  the  new  railway  distributing  post-ofifice  system 
upon  the  principal  railroads  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin. 

The  memorial  of  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  Wisconsin 
respectfully  represents : 

That  the  important  and  rapidly  increasing  business  interests 
of  the  state  of  Wisconsin  demand  the  early  introduction  and 
establishment  of  the  new  railway  distributing  post  ofl&ce  system 
upon  the  leading  railroads  of  this  state.    That  under  the  present 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  57 

system  of  distribution  of  letters  at  post  offices  a  delay  of  twelve 
hours  and  upwards  is  necessarily  incurred  at  the  Chicago  office 
in  the  transmission  of  letters  from  Wisconsin  to  eastern  cities 
and  other  points  in  the  country.  That,  in  the  opinion  of  your 
memorialists,  the  new  railway  mail  system  is  of  great  practical 
utility;  that  its  success,  whenever  and  wherever  introduced,  is 
beyond  question:  and  that  it  will  confer  a  great  and  incalculable 
benefit  and  advantage  upon  the  business  interests  of  our  state, 
we  fully  believe. 

Therefore  your  memorialists  would  respectfully  and  ear- 
nestly ask  its  application  to  the  principal  railroads  in  the  state 
of  Wisconsin. 

It  was  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Wisconsin,  April  8,  1865, 
without  opposition  and  was  doubtless  the  first  action  taken  on 
the  subject,  and  the  first  indorsement  given  by  any  state  legis- 
lature commending  the  adoption  of  the  new  system.  In  the 
mean  time  I  was  in  frequent  communication  with  Mr.  Arm- 
strong as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue.  I  saw  him  often  and 
wrote  him  frequently.  I  advised  him  that  a  memorial  had 
passed  the  legislature.  I  read  copies  of  letters  received  from 
him  at  that  time : 

Post  Office,  Chicago,  III.,  April  8, 1865. 
Friend  Keyes  :  Thanks  for  your  kind  favor  this  morn- 
ing received.  Did  you  send  copies  of  the  legislative  memorial 
to  the  Postmaster- General  and  the  Assistant  Postmaster- Gen- 
eral ?  If  not,  why  not  ?  If  not,  do  so  immediately;  it  will  help 
along  amazingly.  Flood  the  Department  with  them.  I  go  to 
Washington  in  a  few  days. 

Yours  truly, 

G.  B.  Armstrong. 

On  April  14th,  he  wrote  me  again,  in  answer  to  my  sugges- 
tion that  he  forward  the  memorial : 

Post  Office,  Chicago,  III.,  April  14,  1865. 
Dear  Keyes  :    I  feel  a  delicacy  in  sending  the  memorial  as 
coming  through  me.    It  may  look  as  if  I  were  making  capital 
for  the  new  work.    Please  forward  it  yourself  to  the  Postmaster- 


58  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

General,  marking  the  envelope  inclosing  it  'Personal. '    I  will 
be  in  Washington  nov^r  very  soon. 

Yours  truly, 

G.  B.  Armstrong. 

These  letters  show  the  great  interest  which  Mr,  Armstrong 
took  in  the  project,  and  that  we  pushed  it  to  the  fullest  extent 
possible.  Mr.  Armstrong  conferred  with  the  Department  on 
the  question  of  the  extension  into  Wisconsin,  and  I  followed  the 
memorial  with  correspondence  and  with  personal  interviews 
with  the  Postmaster-General,  and  finally  received  assurances 
from  that  official  that  as  soon  as  practicable  this  service  should 
be  extended  into  Wisconsin,  and  on  May  i,  1867,  the  service 
was  put  on  the  Northwestern  Railway  from  Chicago  to  Green 
Bay. 

Thus  it  was  that  Wisconsin  became  the  second  state  in  the 
Union  to  receive  the  advantages  of  the  new  system  of  railway 
mail  distribution.  It  was  not  until  July  i,  1869,  that  this  ser- 
vice was  put  upon  any  railroad  running  east  of  Chicago.  As 
I  have  stated,  the  first  service  was  put  upon  the  railroad  line 
from  Chicago  to  Clinton.  A  crude  car  was  prepared  and  the 
first  trip  was  begun,  and,  in  the  words  of  Postmaster- General 
Blair,  in  his  letter  of  authority  to  Mr.  Armstrong,  "the  traveling 
post  office  "  was  under  full  headway.  The  value  of  the  service 
was  so  quickly  demonstrated  by  these  experiments  that  the  rail- 
roads promptly  furnished  better  and  more  suitable  cars  for  the 
purpose.  As  soon  as  practicable  after  the  first  introduction  of 
the  railway  distributing  post  office  service,  it  was  made  to  in- 
clude the  whole  country  in  its  benefits  and  advantages.  Con- 
gress was  not  slow  to  recognize  its  great  value.  In  1869  the 
Railway  Mail  Service  was  organized  into  a  separate  bureau, 
and  Mr.  Armstrong  was  placed  in  full  control,  and  so  continued 
until  his  death,  in  May,  187 1. 

No  project  of  so  much  importance  to  the  people  was  ever 
carried  forward  more  rapidly  to  such  grand  results,  as  less  than 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  59 

four  years  elapsed  between  the  running  of  the  first  railway 
mail-car  and  the  general  adoption  of  the  service  by  the  depart- 
ment. 

There  were  not  a  few  others  entitled  to  great  credit  in  heartily 
supporting  Mr.  Armstrong  in  his  efforts.  I  only  refer  to  the 
early  days  of  the  service.  Its  great  accomplishments  and  splen- 
did results  are  as  familiar  as  household  words  to  the  people. 
I  will  not  attempt  to  point  out  in  detail  its  great  triumph.  I  only 
speak  hurriedly  and  in  a  reminiscent  way  of  its  early  days. 

I  was  an  eye-witness,  so  to  speak,  of  the  inception,  growth, 
development,  and  expansion  of  this  most  marvellous  addition 
and  improvement  of  the  post  office  service  —  the  greatest  that 
has  been  seen  in  a  century.  Without  it,  it  would  be  impossible 
to  transact  the  great  volume  of  business  which  floods  the  mails 
at  the  present  time. 

Mr.  Armstrong  had  been  so  devoted  to  this  work  and  so  im- 
pressed with  its  magnitude,  that  his  labors  in  connection  there- 
with overcame  him,  and  he  became  broken  down  in  health, 
which  wa^  clearly  attributable  to  the  nervous  energy  and  atten- 
tion which  he  had  devoted  to  it.  His  name  should  always  be 
kept  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  American  people. 

A  large  bronze  bust  on  a  granite  pedestal  has  been  erected 
by  the  clerks  in  the  Railway  Mail  Service  to  the  memory  of 
George  Buchanan  Armstrong,  the  founder  of  this  service. 


Letters  on  Postal  Reform 

A  Proposed  Change  in  the  Economy  of  the  Postal  Service 

of  the  United  States,  by  George  B.  Armstrong, 

Chicago,  111. 

(Official  History,  pages  1 65-171,  inclusive) 

The  following  letters,  originally  addressed  to  A.  N.  Zevely, 
Third  Assistant  Postmaster- General,  on  the  subject  of  reform 
in  the  "  economy  of  the  postal  service  in  the  United  States, "  are 
published  in  this  form  with  a  view  to  obtaining  an  expression 
of  opinion  as  to  the  merits  of  the  plan  proposed  therein  and 
its  adaptability  to  the  wants  of  the  service.  That  a  reform  is 
needed  is  evident  to  every  one  practically  acquainted  with 
our  postal  arrangements.  In  what  way  this  reform  is  to  be 
attained,  these  letters  are  designed  to  point  out.  There 
may  be  other  plans  elaborated,  if  any  at  all  have  been, 
better  designed  to  accomplish  the  end  proposed.  However 
that  may  be,  the  author  claims  a  careful  consideration  of  his 
plan  as  the  partial  result  of  a  critical  study  of  the  present 
system  during  a  long  experience  in  the  service. 

These  letters  treat  only  of  the  disposition  and  arrangement  of 
the  postal  system  to  insure  the  utmost  attainable  celerity  in  the 
transmission  of  correspondence  through  the  mails.  Other 
questions  are  left  out  of  view. 

Chicago,  June,  1864. 

No.  I 

Chicago,  May  10,  1864. 

Sir:  It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  an  effort  is  to  be 
made  to  introduce  a  reform  in  the  postal  system  of  this  country. 
What  this  effort  will  be  and  what  result  is  contemplated,  I  am 
not  precisely  informed.  It  is  fortunate,  however,  that  what- 
ever effort  is  made  is  to  be  under  your  able  and  experienced 
management. 

60 


The  True  Railway   Mail  Service  6i 

The  present  postal  system,  no  doubt  adapted  to  the  simple 
requirements  of  the  service  in  its  early  days,  when  the  accounts 
of  the  Department  were  comprised  in  the  £  s.  d.  ledger  kept  by 
the  Postmaster- General,  is  inadequate  to  the  enlarged  demands 
of  the  advanced  civilization  of  the  present  day.  It  ought  to  be 
replaced  by  a  system  combining  greater  simplicity  with  cheap- 
ness and  adaptability  to  the  avowed  ends  to  be  accomplished 
by  its  introduction.  Although  it  would  doubtless  be  difficult 
to  a  certain  degree  to  introduce  a  system  under  the  present  pre- 
carious tenure  of  office  which  would  at  once  violently  revolu- 
tionize the  order  of  things,  yet  such  changes  may  be  made  as 
would  gradually,  yet  effectually,  accomplish  the  purpose, 
retaining  so  much  of  the  present  system  as  would  not  bring 
improvements  into  too  sudden  conflict  with  long  habit  and 
practice. 

Among  those  practically  conversant  with  the  present  method 
of  making  up  mails,  some  of  the  objections  against  its  continu- 
ance are  a  want  of  compactness,  a  diffuseness,  so  to  speak,  in 
the  system  of  mailing  direct  to  the  extent  required  by  the  existing 
regulations  of  the  Department,  the  length  of  time  required  for 
post-billing,  filling  out  and  completing  the  records,  wrapping 
and  directing  the  packages,  and  in  bagging,  especially  in  the 
large  offices;  the  necessity,  therefore,  of  closing  the  mails  at  the 
post-office  to  the  local  public  at  an  unseemly  length  of  time 
before  the  actual  time  of  departure  of  the  mails  from  the  post 
office,  and  the  consequent  liabihty  to  make  errors  in  distribut- 
ting  and  directing  packages  in  haste,  which  generally  attends 
the  operation.  The  latter  objection  has  the  more  force  from 
the  fact  that  no  small  amount  of  misdirected  packages,  as  is 
well  known  to  the  post  ofl&ce,  daily  travel  in  the  mails,  which 
under  the  regulations  may  be  opened  only  at  the  post  offices 
addressed.  Add  to  these  the  cost  of  wrapping  paper  used, 
post-bills,  and  other  blanks  in  enormous  quantities,  with  the 
unavoidable  waste  attending  their  use,  and  the  objections 
gather  weight  on  the  score  of  economy  of  time  and  cost.  These 
may  be  regarded  as  minor  points  in  a  comprehensive  plan, 
but  on  the  score  of  economy  of  time  and  cost,  one  of  sufficient 
importance  to  start  the  inquiry  whether  such  changes  in  the 
arrangement,  regulation,  and  government  of  the  system  can 
be  introduced  as  would  bring  about  a  permanent  benefit  in 
these  respects,  and  for  the  greater  purpose  of  freeing  the 


62  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

system  of  its  present  perplexities  and  hindrances,  for  the 
public  welfare.  The  great  fact  of  reform,  however,  lies 
beyond  these,  and  may  be  reached,  probably,  only  through 
progressive  steps  in  the  work  of  improvement. 

Certainty  and  celerity  in  the  transmission  of  letters  are 
primary  considerations.  No  postal  system  may  be  regarded  as 
perfect  that  does  not  give  to  the  whole  public  the  largest  possible 
facilities  in  extent  and  frequency  of  communication  between 
all  important  places  and  rapid  frequent  local  deliveries.  All 
parts  of  our  country  are  closely  identified  with  each  other  in  a 
great  common  interest  —  the  fullest  development  of  commercial 
and  social  prosperity.  In  the  attainment  of  this  grand  result 
the  post  office  performs  an  important  part;  to  it  are  committed 
great  trusts  and  from  it  are  expected  the  highest  advantages  to 
the  people.  The  working  out  of  this  reformation  in  the  service 
is  second  in  universal  interest  to  no  other  measure  touching  the 
welfare  of  the  public  at  large.  This  final  result  may  be  attained 
by  wise  planning  and  patient,  persistent  effort,  beginning  the 
reform  with  the  simplest  changes,  for  the  reason  hereinfore 
named,  and  gradually  introducing  the  more  radical  improve- 
ments till  the  end  is  accomplished. 

No.  2 

Chicago,  May  14, 1864. 

Dear  Sir:  The  outline  of  the  plan  which  I  submit  for 
your  consideration  for  a  change  in  the  present  postal  system 
to  secure  greater  efficiency,  certainty,  and  celerity  therein,  I  will 
state  as  briefly  as  I  can  to  be  rightly  understood.  I  premise  it 
by  saying  that  the  improvements  I  propose  look  to  the  abolition 
of  the  system  of  mailing  direct  to  the  extent  now  required  by  the 
existing  regulations  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  and  the 
substitution  therefor  of  a  system  of  distributing  on  the  lines  of 
railroads  by  railway  clerks  for  offices  on  railroad  routes,  and  by 
those  offices  for  other  offices  supplied  from  them;  the  intro- 
duction of  a  system  of  multiplied  and  frequent  interchange  of 
mails  between  places  of  important  intercommunication,  and, 
finally,  a  full  transfer  of  distributing  duties,  as  near  as  may  be 
to  traveling  railway  post  offices,  in  order  to  secure  the  utmost 
dispatch  and  frequency  in  the  transmission  of  letters.  I 
elucidate  under  the  following  heads,  viz.: 

I.  Classification  of  post  offices. 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  63 

2.  Traveling  post  offices. 

3.  The  duties  of  each  class  of  offices. 

4.  The  duties  of  traveling  post  offices. 

5.  The  method  of  making  up  and  post-biUing  mails. 

I. —  Classification  of  Post  Offices 

Post  offices  should  be  divided  into  four  classes,  viz. : 

Distributing  offices. 

Assorting  offices. 

Head  (or  supply)  offices. 

Route  Cor  intermediate)  offices. 

Distributing  offices  shall  be  such  post  offices  as  may  be  desig- 
nated by  the  Postmaster- General,  to  be  determined  by  geo 
graphical  situation,  with  reference  to  population,  the  frequency 
of  local  supplies  to  and  from  such  offices,  and  the  importance 
of  the  correspondence,  the  frequency  of  communication  with 
other  important  offices,  and  such  other  considerations  bearing 
on  the  case  as  may  be  deemed  of  sufficient  consequence  to  make 
them  serviceable  to  the  greatest  practicable  extent  in  the  design 
of  their  selection. 

Assorting  offices  shall  be  those  post  offices  which  are  the 
initial  and  terminal  offices  of  railroad  routes,  not  distributing 
offices,  and  such  other  offices  and  railroad  routes  as  may  be 
located  at  railroad  crossings  or  connections,  and  such  other 
offices  on  other  routes,  not  railroad  routes,  as  may  be  deemed 
expedient  by  the  Postmaster- General. 

Head  {or  supply)  offices  shall  be  all  post  offices  which  are  the 
initial  and  terminal  offices  of  routes,  not  railroad  routes,  not 
distributing  or  assorting  offices,  excepting  such  terminal  offices 
as  are  not  the  offices  of  supply  for  any  route,  and  excepting 
also  such  offices,  either  head  or  terminal  offices,  of  such  routes, 
as  may  be  deemed  expedient  by  the  Postmaster- General. 

Route  {or  intermediate)  offices  shall  be  all  other  post  offices 
situated  on  railroad,  and  other  routes  which  are  not  offices  of 
supply  for  any  other  route. 

II. —  Traveling  Post  Offices 

The  classification  of  offices  above  given  is  for  the  twofold 
purpose  of  arranging  a  system  of  mailing  combining  more  com- 
prehensiveness and  simplicity  than  the  present  one,  and  thereby 
to  attain  greater  accuracy  in  the  dispatch  of  letters.     And  in 


64  The  True   Railway  Mail  Service 

the  case  of  distributing  offices  the  design  in  the  classification 
is  so  to  relieve  them  of  the  vast  amount  of  letters  now  necessarily 
throv^rn  upon  them  under  the  present  system  as  to  enable  them, 
together  with  the  assorting  offices  in  the  classification  given,  to 
make  more  extended  and  frequent  interchange  of  mail  with  other 
offices  of  the  same  classification,  both  for  local  delivery  and 
distribution.  But  the  main  feature  of  the  plan  which  after  its 
introduction  and  final  adaption  to  the  service  would  undoubt- 
edly lead  to  the  most  important  results  is  the  system  of  railway 
distribution.  To  carry  out  the  true  theory  of  postal  service, 
there  should  be  no  interruption  in  the  transit  of  letters  in  the 
mail,  and,  therefore,  as  little  complication  in  the  necessary 
internal  machinery  of  a  postal  system  as  possible,  to  the  end  that 
letters  deposited  in  a  post  office  at  the  latest  moment  of  the  de- 
parture of  the  mails  from  the  office  for  near  or  distant  places 
should  travel  with  the  same  uninterrupted  speed  and  certainty 
as  passengers  to  their  places  of  destination  as  often  as  contracts 
with  the  Department  for  transportation  of  the  mails  permit. 
It  is  well  known  to  the  public  that  passengers  traveling  over 
railroad  routes  generally  reach  a  given  point  in  advance  of 
letters,  when  to  that  given  point  letters  must  pass,  under  the 
present  system,  through  a  distributing  office;  and  when  letters 
are  subjected  to  a  distributing  process  in  more  than  one  dis- 
tributing office,  as  is  largely  the  case  now,  the  tardiness  of  a 
letter's  progress  toward  its  place  of  destination  is  proportion- 
ately increased.  But  a  general  system  of  railway  distribution 
obviates  this  difficulty.  The  work  being  done  while  the  cars 
are  in  motion,  and  transfers  of  mails  made  from  route  to  route 
and  for  local  deliveries  on  the  way  as  they  are  reached,  letters 
attain  the  same  celerity  in  transit  as  persons  making  direct 
connections.  This  is  obvious;  but  to  reach  this  perfection 
would  necessarily  be  a  work  of  time.  The  plan  I  now  submit 
looks  to  that  end  in  time;  and  if  it  be  proved  by  trial  to  be 
adapted  to  the  service  in  a  new  form,  the  time  may  not  be 
distant. 

In  passing,  however,  to  this  final  improvement,  I  remark  that 
the  classification  of  offices  above  given  would  be  so  far  changed 
as  to  abolish  the  distinction  between  distributing  and  assorting 
offices,  reducing  the  former  to  the  character  with  the  simple 
functions  of  the  latter.  The  other  question  of  frequent  local 
deliveries  in  cities  and  towns  by  carriers  I  will  not  touch  upon, 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  65 

only  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  two  questions  are  correlative;  and 
that  the  success  of  one  depends  upon  the  perfection  and  thor- 
oughness of  the  other.  To  carry  out  the  design,  therefore, 
each  railroad  corporation  under  contract  with  the  Post  Office 
Department,  or  otherwise,  employed  in  transporting  the  mails 
shall  furnish  for  the  exclusive  use  and  occupancy  of  the  railway 
clerks  a  sufficient  number  of  cars  suitable  in  dimensions  and 
conveniences  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  for  the  proper  dis- 
charge of  distributing  and  other  duties;  these  cars,  or  railway 
post  offices,  to  be  under  the  direction  and  control  of  the  De- 
partment while  the  corporation  is  engaged  in  carrying  the  mail. 

III. —  The  Duties  of  Each  Class  of  Offices 

Adopting  the  classification  proposed  above,  the  duties  of  the 
several  offices  therein  will  be  readily  understood. 

The  duty  of  route  offices  will  be  very  simple.  Postmasters 
of  such  offices  not  on  railroad  routes  will  post-bill  and  mail 
direct  all  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes  (without  refer- 
ence to  any  indorsement  thereon  by  the  writers  to  the  contrary) ; 
they  will  post-bill  and  mail  on  the  nearest  head  office  on  the 
proper  route  to  the  place  of  their  destination. 

When  route  offices  are  situated  on  railroad  routes  the  post- 
masters thereof  will  post-bill  and  mail  letters  for  other  offices 
on  their  own  routes,  as  well  as  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes 
on  the  traveling  post  office  through  which  they  should  first  pass 
to  the  office  of  delivery. 

The  duty  of  head  offices  will  be  equally  as  simple  as  that  of 
route  offices. 

Postmasters  of  head  offices  will  post-bill  and  mail  all  letters 
deposited  therein  for  mailing  and  received  from  other  offices 
in  the  manner  following: 

All  letters  for  offices  on  the  routes  of  which  such  offices  are 
the  head  offices  will  be  mailed  and  post-billed  direct;  and  all 
letters  for  offices  on  other  routes  will  be  post-billed  and  mailed 
on  the  traveling  post  office,  the  nearest  assorting  office,  or  head 
office  on  the  proper  route  to  the  office  of  delivery,  as  the  case 
may  be,  in  the  same  manner  as  route  offices. 

The  duties  of  assorting  offices  will  be  of  a  more  general  char- 
acter than  those  of  either  of  the  above  offices;  and,  although 
confined  to  narrow  limits  in  their  operations,  they  will  have 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  distributing  offices. 


66  The  True  Railway   Mail  Service 

.  Postmasters  of  assorting  offices  will  post-bill  and  mail  all 
letters  deposited  therein  for  mailing  and  received  from  other 
offices  in  the  manner  f ollow^ing : 

All  letters  for  offices  on  routes  not  railroad  routes  of  which 
such  offices  are  the  initial  or  terminal  offices  will  be  post- 
billed  and  mailed  direct. 

All  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes  not  railroad  routes,  ex- 
cepting routes  supplied  through  head  offices  on  railroad  routes, 
will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the  nearest  head  office  on  the 
proper  route  to  the  offices  of  delivery. 

All  letters  for  offices  on  railroad  routes  for  which  such  offices 
are  the  assorting  offices,  and  for  offices  supplied  through  head 
offices  on  railroad  routes,  will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the 
traveling  post  offices.  And  all  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes, 
railroad  or  otherwise,  which  should  properly  pass  over  such 
railroad  routes  to  the  offices  of  delivery,  excepting  those  which 
should  be  sent  to  distributing  offices,  other  assorting  offices,  or 
other  traveling  post  offices,  as  the  case  may  be,  with  which 
regular  exchange  of  mail  in  through  bags  is  made,  will  be  post- 
billed  and  mailed  on  the  traveling  post  office. 

It  will  also  be  the  duty  of  this  class  of  offices  to  make  regular 
exchange  of  mails  in  through  bags  with  other  principal  assort- 
ing offices,  distributing  offices,  and  traveling  post  offices,  as 
far  as  may  be  deemed  expedient  for  the  purpose  —  first,  of 
expediting  the  transmission  of  letters  for  such  offices  and  for 
offices  supplied  through  them;  secondly,  to  secure  semi-daily 
dispatch  of  mails,  or  as  often  as  contract  with  the  Post  Office 
Department  for  the  transportation  of  mails  permit  it,  between 
important  places;  and,  thirdly,  to  lessen  the  amount  of  distribu- 
tion in  the  traveling  post  offices. 

All  letters,  therefore,  for  places  immediately  supplied  from 
either  of  the  offices  with  which  regular  exchange  of  mails  in 
through  bags  is  made  will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the  office 
from  which  the  supply  is  due;  and  letters  for  places  beyond  the 
offices  with  which  such  exchange  of  mail  is  made  shall  be  mailed 
on  the  last  exchanging  office  on  the  proper  route  to  the  offices 
of  delivery. 

Postmasters  of  distributing  offices  will  post-bill  and  mail  all 
letters  deposited  therein  for  mailing  and  received  from  other 
offices  for  distribution  in  the  manner  following: 

All  letters  for  offices  on  routes  not  railroad  routes  of  which 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  67 

such  offices  are  the  initial  or  terminal  offices  will  be  post-billed 
and  mailed  direct. 

All  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes  not  railroad  routes,  ex- 
cepting routes  supplied  through  head  offices  on  railroad  routes, 
will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the  first  head  office  through 
which  they  should  pass  on  the  proper  route  to  the  offices  of 
delivery. 

All  letters  for  offices  on  railroad  routes  for  which  distributing 
offices  are  the  office  of  supply,  and  for  offices  supplied  through 
head  offices  on  such  railroad  routes  will  be  post-billed  and 
mailed  on  the  traveling  post  offices;  and  all  letters  for  offices 
on  other  routes,  railroad  or  otherwise,  which  should  properly 
pass  over  such  railroad  routes  to  the  offices  of  delivery,  except- 
ing those  which  should  be  properly  sent  to  other  distributing 
offices,  or  assorting  offices  or  traveling  post  offices,  as  the  case 
may  be,  with  which  regular  exchange  of  mails  in  through  bags 
is  made,  will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the  traveling  post 
offices. 

As  in  the  case  of  assorting  offices,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  dis- 
tributing offices  to  make  regular  exchange  of  mails  in  through 
bags  with  all  distributing  offices,  with  all  principal  assorting 
offices  and  traveling  post  offices  other  than  those  on  railroad 
routes  of  which  they  are  the  initial  or  terminal  offices,  or  other- 
wise. And  the  same  method  of  post-billing  and  mailing  letters 
for  the  offices  and  for  distribution,  with  which  regular  exchange 
of  mail  in  through  bags  is  made,  will  be  observed. 

So  far  the  duties  of  distributing  offices  are  precisely  similar 
to  those  of  assorting  offices.  The  importance  of  the  former 
over  the  latter  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  will  necessarily  handle 
for  distribution  a  greater  number  of  letters,  because  being 
selected  for  distributing  duties  with  a  view  to  centrality  of 
location  to  populous  routes  and  concentration  of  correspondence 
passing  between  distant  points,  greater  accumulations  in  tran- 
sit fall  upon  them,  and  hence  the  operations  of  such  offices 
must  take  a  wide  range;  and  in  the  other  respect  that  it  will  be 
their  duty  to  make  frequent  and  multiplied  exchanges  of  mails 
for  delivery  and  distribution  in  through  bags  with  all  offices  of 
their  own  class  (as  well  as  for  assorting  and  traveling  post 
offices,  as  far  as  they  maybe  instructed),  with  the  end  always 
in  view  of  expediting  the  transmission  of  letters  between 
distant  places.     The  operations  of  a  distributing  office  must 


68  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

always  be  subservient  to  and  controlled  by  the  interest  of  the 
correspondence  committed  to  its  care.  The  speediest  trans- 
mission of  letters  to  places  of  their  destination  must  be  the  chief 
aim  of  their  labors,  and  therefore  must  be  observed  in  the 
discharge  of  their  responsible  duties,  the  closest  discrimination 
in  forwarding  letters  to  other  offices  with  which  regular  ex- 
change of  mails  is  made,  so  that  they  will  not  be  subject  to  an 
unnecessary  distribution  or  retention  on  the  way. 

The  number  of  this  class  of  offices  should  be  limited  to  the 
present  necessity  for  them  in  the  working  of  the  new  system. 

IV. —  The   Duties  of  Traveling  Post   Offices 

More  important  than  either  of  the  foregoing  offices  in  a 
thoroughly  efficient  postal  system  is  the  traveling  post-office. 

It  will  be  the  duty  of  clerks  of  traveling  post  offices  to 
receive  letters  at  railway  stations  up  to  the  latest  moment  of 
the  departure  of  the  trains,  and  all  letters  received  at  such 
offices  from  other  offices,  as  well  as  those  deposited  therein  for 
mailing,  will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  in  the  following 
manner: 

Regular  exchange  of  mails  will  be  made  by  the  traveling  post 
office  with  each  office  on  its  route.  Mails  will  be  made  up  while 
the  cars  are  in  motion.  All  letters  for  offices  on  the  route  will 
be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  them  in  order  as  they  are  reached 
by  the  train,  and  all  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes,  not  rail- 
road routes,  supplied  through  head  offices  on  such  railroad  route 
will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the  head  office  from  which 
such  supply  is  properly  made. 

All  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes,  railroad  or  otherwise, 
not  supplied  through  either  of  the  head  offices  on  such  railroad 
route,  excepting  letters  for  offices  which  should  properly  be  sent 
to  distributing  offices,  assorting  offices,  or  other  traveling  post 
offices  with  which  regular  exchange  of  mail  in  through  bags  is 
made,  will  be  post-billed  and  mailed  on  the  assorting  office  at 
the  beginning  or  end  of  such  railroad  route,  or  at  the  rail- 
road crossings  or  connections,  as  the  case  may  be. 

It  will  also  be  the  duty  of  this  class  of  offices  to  make  regular 
exchange  of  mails  in  through  bags  with  distributing  offices 
and  assorting  offices,  as  far  as  may  be  deemed  expedient,  and 
especially  with  other  traveling  post-offices  in  order  to  expedite 
the  transmission  of  letters  to  the  greatest  extent  attainable  on 
their  way  to  the  places  of  their  destination. 


The  True  Railway   Mail  Service  69 

It  will  also  be  the  duty  of  this  class  of  offices  to  make  regular 
exchange  of  return  bags  with  each  other  on  their  respective 
routes,  to  the  end  that  letters  mailed  on  them  in  error  by  offices 
on  their  own  routes,  or  sent  to  them  by  other  offices,  while  going 
in  one  direction  which  should,  on  the  proper  route  to  the  offices 
of  delivery  be  sent  in  the  opposite  direction,  the  correction  may 
be  made  and  the  letters  returned  at  the  point  on  the  route  where 
the  traveling  offices  meet. 

No.  3 

Chicago,  June  10,  1864. 

Sir:  By  reference  to  Chapter  IV  of  the  Regulations  of 
the  Department  in  the  edition  of  1859,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
instructions  to  postmasters  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  forward- 
ing letters  would  be,  by  the  system  proposed,  null  and  void. 
Section  41  of  the  chapter  named,  reads  thus: 

"  Every  postmaster  will  mail  and  post-bill  direct  to  the  place 
addressed:  first, all  letters  for  his  own  State  or  Territory; 
second,  all  letters  for  post  offiv.es  in  other  States  and  Territories, 
which  should  not  pass  through  a  distributing  office  on  their 
proper  route  to  the  office  of  delivery;  and  third,  all  letters  on 
which  theinstruction  ''mail  direct"  shall  be  written.  Letters 
not  required  by  the  foregoing  provisions  to  be  mailed  direct 
shall  be  post-billed  and  mailed  to  the  distributing  office 
through  which  they  should  first  pass  on  the  proper  route  to 
their  place  of  destination  —  unless  the  mailing  office  be  a 
distributing  office. 

"  All  letters  received  at  a  distributing  office  for  distribution 
or  deposited  therein  for  mailing,  and  which  are  addressed  to  any 
other  distributing  office  or  to  places  in  the  State  or  Territory 
where  such  distributing  office  is  situated,  or  to  places  not  more 
than  100  miles  distant  from  such  distributing  office,  or  which 
would  not  pass  through  a  distributing  office  on  the  proper  route 
to  the  office  of  delivery,  shall  he  mailed  direct;  but  if  the  office 
of  delivery  is  more  than  100  miles  from  such  distributing  office, 
and  the  letters  should  properly  pass  through  one  or  more  dis- 
tributing offices,  they  shall  be  mailed  and  post-billed  to  the 
last  distributing  office  through  which  they  are  to  pa9s  on  their 
routes  to  the  office  of  delivery." 

Mailing  direct  to  the  extent  required  by  the  above  instructions 
is  one  of  the  objections  referred  to  in  a  previous  letter,  and  for 


70  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

the  reasons  therein  given  is  entitled  to  weight.  Other  objections 
not  necessary  to  point  out  will  be  suggested  by  a  comparison  of 
the  method  of  forwarding  letters  described  in  the  instructions 
quoted  with  that  proposed  in  these  letters.  It  is  proper  to 
repeat,  however,  that  both  in  large  and  small  offices  misdirec- 
tions of  packages  are  known  to  be  frequently  made;  and  this 
constant  exposure  to  liability  of  misdirection  of  whole  mails  is 
very  objectionable.  There  is  only  one  way  to  remedy  this: 
To  dispense  with  the  use  of  wrappers  entirely,  except  in  the  case 
of  mails  to  distant  places  where  they  are  required  to  protect 
letters  from  attrition  and  separation  in  transit.  In  the  plan 
submitted,  wrapping  will  be  done  away  with,  excepting  in  the 
cases  just  named;  and  as  the  quantity  of  paper  used  for  this 
purpose  will  be  comparatively  trifling,  the  saving  in  this  item 
of  expense  will  be  considerable,  while  the  objections  to  the  use 
of  wrappers  are  removed.  Another  great  item  of  tax  on  the 
revenues  of  the  Department  is  incurred  by  the  use  of  enormous 
quantities  of  post-bills  and  other  necessary  blanks  in  the  present 
system.  It  is  not  proposed  to  do  away  with  post-bills  and  other 
blanks  altogether,  but  the  quantities  used  will  be  very  largely 
reduced  and  the  expenditures  therefor  of  course  will  be  re- 
duced in  proportion.  The  saving  of  cost,  however,  would 
doubtless  be  secondary  to  the  benefits  to  the  people  secured 
by  a  simplified  system,  to  which  reference  has  been  already 
made. 

V. —  The  Method  of  Making  up  and  Post-billing  Mails 

The  form  of  the  post-bill  now  in  use  need  not  be  changed  (as 
it  is  simple  enough  for  the  purpose  designed),  except  a  slight 
alteration  in  size  and  arrangement.  It  is  proposed  to  do  away 
with  separate  bills  for  delivery  and  distribution,  excepting  to 
distributing  offices  and  principal  assorting  offices,  where  sepa- 
rate packages  for  delivery  and  distribution  are  essential  to  pre- 
vent delay  in  the  necessary  assorting  of  letters  for  rapid  local 
deliveries,  and  in  the  distributing  of  letters  for  immediate  out- 
going mails,  and  to  confine  the  entries  in  all  other  cases  to  one 
post-bill  for  each  mail.  The  alteration  referred  to  will  simply 
be  an  elongation  of  the  post-bill,  and  a  division  into  two  spaces 
—  the  upper  space  to  be  headed  "for  delivery,"  and  the  lower 
one  ''for  other  offices."  And  for  the  sake  of  uniformity  and 
simplicity  the  two  kinds  of  blanks  —  ''mails  received,"  and 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  71 

"mails  received  for  distribution" —  should  be  merged  into  one. 

The  different  ofl&ces  as  classified,  and  in  accordance  with 
their  duties  as  elsewhere  defined,  will  make  up  and  post-bill  as 
follows: 

Postmasters  of  route  oflSces,  after  carefully  assorting  letters 
deposited  therein  for  mailing,  will  enter  them  on  the  post-bill 
in  the  usual  manner  in  the  appropriate  columns  under  the  proper 
head  "for  delivery,"  in  the  case  of  letters  for  other  route  offices, 
and  "for  delivery"  and  "for  other  offices"  in  the  case  of  letters 
for  head  offices  and  offices  supplied  through  them. 

The  post-bill  being  completed,  the  postmaster  will  carefully 
fold  it  with  the  letters  entered  thereon  and  tie  the  whole  securely 
with  twine  in  one  compact  bundle,  taking  care  first  to  see  that 
the  facing  letters  clearly  indicate  the  office  for  which  the  package 
is  destined.     Wrapping  paper  will  not  be  used. 

When  a  route  office  forwards  letters  for  offices  on  other  routes 
supplied  through  a  head  office,  on  such  head  office  the  facing 
letter  should  be  one  addressed  to  such  head  office,  to  indicate 
the  place  of  destination  of  the  package;  and  in  case  there  should 
be  no  letter  addressed  to  such  head  office  in  any  particular 
package,  then  the  post-bill  must  be  carefully  wrapped  around 
the  letters  forming  the  package,  and  securely  tied,  so  that 
the  name  of  such  head  office  in  the  post-bill  may  be  distinctly 
seen  instead  of  a  facing  letter. 

Postmasters  of  head  offices,  after  carefully  assorting  letters 
deposited  therein  for  mailing  and  received  from  other  offices 
for  other  offices,  will  enter  them  on  the  post-bill  in  the  usual 
manner  in  the  appropriate  column  under  the  head  of  "for 
delivery"  in  the  case  of  letters  for  route  offices  supplied  direct 
by  them,  and  "for  delivery'*  and  "for  other  offices"  in  the 
case  of  letters  for  delivery  from  other  head  offices  and  for 
offices  supplied  through  them.  Letters  deposited  therein  for 
mailing  and  received  from  other  offices  for  assorting  offices 
and  for  other  offices,  which  should  be  mailed  on  assorting 
offices  for  distribution,  will  be  entered  on  separate  post- 
bills  —  letters  for  delivery  from  the  assorting  offices  entered 
under  the  head  of  "  for  delivery,"  and  made  up  in  separate 
packages  with  the  post-bill  relating  thereto  and  securely  tied, 
the  facing  letter  indicating  the  assorting  office,  for  which  each 
package  is  destined;  and  letters  for  distribution  will  be  entered 
under  the  head  of  "for  other  offices, "  and  made  up  also  in  sepa- 


72  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

rate  packages  with  the  post-bill  relating  thereto  and  securely 
tied,  the  post-bill  itself  indicating  the  place  of  their  destination. 
Letters  for  offices  supplied  by  traveling  post  offices  and  for  dis- 
tribution v^ill  be  entered  on  the  post-bill  of  course  only  under 
the  head  of  ''for  other  offices."  Wrapping  paper  will  not  be 
used. 

Postmasters  of  assorting  ojHices,  after  carefully  assorting 
letters  deposited  therein  for  mailing  and  received  from  other 
offices  for  distribution,  will  enter  them  on  the  post-bill  in  the 
usual  manner,  in  the  appropriate  columns,  under  the  proper 
heads,  "for  delivery"  in  the  case  of  letters  for  route  offices 
supplied  direct  by  them,  taking  care,  before  the  package  with 
the  post-bill  relating  thereto  is  finally  made  up  and  tied,  to  see 
that  the  facing  letter  legibly  indicates  the  office  for  which  it  is 
destined.  And  all  letters  for  delivery  from  head  offices  not 
on  railroad  routes,  and  for  other  offices  supplied  through 
sucb  head  offices,  will  be  entered  on  the  post-bill  in  the 
manner  above  described,  if  for  delivery,  and  under  the  other 
head  if  for  other  offices  supplied  through  them,  the  packages 
to  be  made  up  with  the  respective  post-bills  relating  thereto, 
and  tied  in  the  same  manner  as  described  above.  Letters 
thus  made  up  for  a  head  office  will  be  comprised  in  one 
compact  bundle  with  one  post-bill.  Wrapping  paper  will  not 
be  used. 

All  letters  for  offices  on  railroad  routes,  and  for  offices  sup- 
plied through  head  offices  on  railroad  routes,  and  all  letters  for 
offices  on  other  routes  which  should  properly  pass  over  railroad 
routes  to  the  place  of  their  destination,  excepting  those  which 
should  be  sent  to  distributing  offices,  or  other  assorting  offices 
with  which  regular  exchange  of  mail  is  made,  to  be  mailed, 
as  elsewhere  stated,  on  the  traveling  post-offices,  will  be  entered 
on  the  post-bill  under  the  head  of  "for  other  offices,"  and 
with  the  completed  post-bill,  made  up  in  compact  bundles  and 
securely  tied  with  twine.     Wrapping  paper  will  not  be  used. 

All  letters  for  other  principal  assorting  offices  and  for  dis- 
tributing offices  with  which  regular  exchange  of  mails  in  through 
bags  is  made,  for  delivery  and  distribution,  will  be  entered 
under  the  proper  heads,  "  for  delivery"  or  "  for  other  offices," 
on  separate  post-bills;  and  the  letters  for  delivery  and  for  dis- 
tribution will  be  made  up  in  a  separate  package  or  packages, 
with  the  completed  post-bill  relating  thereto,  strongly  wrapped 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  73 

and  tied,  and  each  package  plainly  directed  to  the  office  to  which 
it  is  to  be  sent  —  that  containing  letters  for  distribution  to  be 
distinguished  by  the  addition  on  the  wrapper  to  the  name  of 
the  office  for  which  it  is  destined  of  the  word  "distribution  " 
or  its  abbreviation,  ''dis. " 

Postmasters  of  distribution  offices,  after  carefully  assorting 
letters  deposited  therein  for  mailing  and  received  from  other 
offices  for  distribution,  will  enter  them  on  the  post-bill  and  make 
up  the  mails  in  the  same  manner  precisely  as  assorting  offices. 

It  is  beUeved  that  the  system  herein  set  forth  commends 
itself  to  the  judgment  and  experience  of  experts  in  the  service. 
It  strips  the  service  of  its  numerous  hindrances  for  work,  sim- 
plifies the  labor,  and  through  this  the  end  sought  in  all  postal 
reforms  is  arrived  at. 

With  this  reform,  other  questions  intimately  connected  with 
its  machinery  and  regulation,  will  arise,  but  these  are  not,  and 
need  not  be,  referred  to  here.  They  will  be  met  as  they  are 
presented.  The  principal  work  of  the  postal  system  is  de- 
scribed in  these  letters,  and  that  is  what  is  first  most  needed 
to  be  provided  for. 

If  the  reform  be  adopted,  or  any  part  of  it,  it  is  proposed  to 
arrange  a  system  of  regular  exchange  of  sealed  bags  or  small 
lock-pouches,  for  security  of  letters,  by  route  offices  with  each 
other  and  with  head  offices,  and  by  head  offices  with  each  other 
and  route  offices  supplied  by  them,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
effectually  check  irregularities  in  the  forwarding  of  mails. 


The  Davis  Claim 

Its  Utter  Absurdity  Fully  Exposed 

The  authorship  and  establishment  of  the  Railway  Mail  Ser- 
vice, as  the  official  testimony  printed  in  these  pages  abundantly 
proves,  is  a  matter  of  record  in  the  Post  Office  Department  at 
Washington. 

It  is  claimed  by  the  heirs  of  William  A.  Davis  that  the  credit 
of  devising  and  instituting  this  great  system  is  due  to  him.  Mr. 
Davis,  in  the  early  6o's  held  the  office  of  Chief  Clerk  in  the  post 
office  at  St.  Joseph ,  Missouri.  The  volume  published  under  the 
authority  of  the  Post  Office  Department  in  January,  1885,  in 
pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
under  the  title  ''History  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service:  A  Chapter 
in  the  History  of  Postal  Affairs  in  the  United  States," contains 
all  the  evidence  relating  to  this  subject. 

It  does  not  appear  from  any  well-substantiated  source  that 
Mr.  Davis  in  1862  had  either  conceived  the  plan  to  establish 
the  present  service  or  took  any  part  whatever  in  the  creative 
work  necessary  to  build  it  up  and  maintain  it.  If  there  had 
been  satisfactory  prior  railway  service,  would  Postmaster- Gen- 
eral Blair,  under  date  of  July  i,  1864,  have  given  George  B. 
Armstrong  the  formal  authority  "to  test  by  actual  experiment, 
upon  such  railroad  route  or  routes  as  you  may  select  at  Chicago, 
the  plans  proposed  by  you  for  simplifying  the  mail  service  "  ? 
This  letter  is  published  in  full  on  page  5  of  this  book,  and 
in  itself  effectually  shows  the  utter  absurdity  of  the  Davis 
claim.  If  there  had  been  a  railway  postal  service,  there  would 
have  been  no  need  of  conducting  experiments  at  that  time. 

True,  there  had  been,  even  prior  to  the  year  i860,  some  lim- 
ited distribution  of  mail  on  the  railways.    This  was  particularly 

74 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  75 

so  on  the  overland  route  running  into  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
where  it  connected  with  the  California  stages,  and  this  distri- 
bution was  necessitated  by  the  crowded  condition  of  the  mails. 
But,  with  due  respect  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Davis,  whose 
efficiency  as  a  postal  official  is  not  questioned,  it  cannot  be 
claimed,  except  upon  the  unsupported  statements  of  two  friends, 
made  in  his  behalf  more  than  twenty  years  later,  and  based 
only  upon  what  is  declared  they  heard  him  say,  that  it  was  he 
who  took  the  initiative  steps  in  the  establishment  of  the  system. 
From  the  official  history  referred  to,  it  appears  (page  143) 
that  on  August  5,  1862,  Mr.  Davis  addressed  a  communication 
to  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- General  McLellan,  in  words 
following,  to  wit : 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  in  obedience  to  verbal 
orders  received  through  Mr.  Waller,  special  agent  of  the  Depart- 
ment, one  of  the  clerks  and  myself  left  here  on  Saturday  26th, 
so  as  to  be  in  Quincy  on  Monday  28,  ultimo,  to  commence  the 
distribution  of  the  overland  mail  on  the  Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph 
Railway.  Finding  that  the  mail  cars  had  not  been  arranged 
according  to  promise  made  to  Mr.  Waller,  instead  of  going  to 
Quincy  I  proceeded  to  Hannibal,  and  succeeded  in  getting  cars 
temporarily  fixed  in  which  (though  with  some  inconvenience) 
I  think  the  work  can  be  done  until  the  new  cars  are  ready. 
The  distribution  was  commenced  on  Monday  at  Palmyra,  and 
I  assisted  the  clerk,  going  up  as  far  as  Clarence,  at  which  place  I 
turned  back  with  the  clerk,  who  had  come  down  to  go  up  on 
Tuesday;  assisted  up  to  the  same  point  on  Tuesday;  turned 
back  and  distributed  the  mail  going  up  on  Wednesday  myself. 
We  have  now  got  through  with  a  week's  service,  and  can  con- 
fidently report  that  when  the  accommodations  are  finished, 
that  are  promised  by  Mr.  Hayward,  superintendent  of  the 
road,  the  distribution  can  be  done  entirely  to  your  satisfaction.' 
Most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  A.  Davis. 

It  is  here  plainly  admitted  that  Mr.  Davis  was  merely  carry- 
ing out  the  "verbal"  orders  received  through  Mr.  Waller  from 


76  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

the  Department,  and  no  intimation  is  made  that  he  himself 
suggested  anything  with  reference  to  the  introduction  of  a  new 
system  of  distribution. 

On  page  144  of  the  official  history,  we  find  two  letters  that 
have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  subject.  One  signed  by  Guy  C. 
Barton,  and  dated  Omaha,  Nebraska,  May  27,  1884,  is  as 
follows : 

Dear  Sir:  I  have  your  favor  of  loth  inst.  concerning 
claim  of  heirs  of  the  late  William  A.  Davis  that  he  originated 
the  idea  of  the  late  (sic)  Railway  Mail  Service,  and  will  say  in 
reply  that  the  claim  is  unquestionably  a  just  one. 

"At  the  time  of  the  establishment  of  the  overland  mail  service, 
the  coaches  left  Saint  Joseph,  Mo.,  in  the  morning,  about 
three  hours  after  the  arrival  of  the  mail  train  over  the  Hannibal 
and  Saint  Joseph  Railway,  Saint  Joseph  being  the  distributing 
post-office  at  which  the  overland  mail  was  made  up.  The 
time  between  the  arrival  of  the  mail  from  the  East  and  the  de- 
parture of  the  coaches  for  the  West  was  found  too  short,  and 
Mr.  Davis,  who  was  at  that  time  chief  clerk  of  the  mailing  de- 
partment in  the  Saint  Joseph  office,  suggested  sending  clerks 
from  our  office  to  Quincy,  111.,  to  meet  the  mail,  and  with 
authority  to  open  the  brass  lock  sacks  and  the  Saint  Joseph 
delivery  post  office  packages,  taking  therefrom  all  California 
letters  or  letters  going  by  overland  stage  route.  These  letters 
were  made  up  precisely  as  they  would  have  been  at  our 
office,  and  the  records  were  a  part  of  the  records  of  the 
office.  The  superintendent  of  the  Hannibal  and  Saint 
Joseph  Railway  had  a  car  prepared  under  Mr.  Davis'  direc- 
tions, and  Mr.  Davis,  Thomas  Clark,  superintendent  of 
mails  at  the  New  York  post  office,  and  myself  went  to  Quincy 
with  two  clerks  from  the  Saint  Joseph  office  and  rode  from 
Palmyra,  Mo.,  to  Saint  Joseph,  Mo.,  in  the  first  railway  postal 
car  that  was  ever  built,  so  far  as  I  know. 

I  have  stated,  as  nearly  as  I  can  remember,  the  circumstances 
connected  with  this  matter  as  affecting  Mr.  Davis,  but  it  would 
be  unjust  to  cease  without  saying  that  the  success  of  the 
experiment  was  made  easy  by  the  quick  perception  of  its  advan- 
tages, and  the  prompt  and  energetic  action  of  the  Hon.  J.  L. 


The  True  Railway   Mail   Service  77 

Bittinger,  who  was  Postmaster  at  Saint  Joseph  at  the  time,  and 
to  whom   all   credit  is  due  for  whatever   action    I  took   in 
establishing  the  service  as  his  representative. 
Yours  very  truly, 

Guy  C.  Barton. 

Under  date  of  June  25,  1884,  J.  L.  Bittinger  writes  from 
Kansas  City,  Missouri  (official  history,  page  144) : 

I  am  satisfied  that  Mr.  Barton  sets  forth  the  facts  concern- 
ing the  inauguration  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service.  I  am  as 
well  satisfied  that  W.  A.  Davis,  who  was  my  predecessor  in  the 
office,  was  the  originator  of  it  as  I  am  that  I  am  living  Mr. 
Davis  had  been  in  the  service  of  the  Department,  I  think,  over 
forty  years.  He  knew  every  detail  of  the  service,  and  had  hand- 
led the  overland  mail  from  the  start.  The  exigencies  of  the 
war  rendered  the  operating  of  the  Hannibal  and  Saint  Joseph 
Railway  exceedingly  difficult,  and  almost  every  train  would 
be  behind  time.  As  the  overland  coaches  were  expected  to  leave 
on  their  journey  across  the  plains  promptly,  of  necessity  they 
frequently  had  to  go  without  a  great  portion  of  the  eastern 
mail. 

Mr.  Davis  conceived  the  idea  of  distributing  the  mail  on  the 
cars,  and  laid  the  plans  before  me.  I  was  satisfied  they  were 
good,  and  urged  him  to  go  ahead  and  request  authority  from 
the  Department  to  experiment.  He  was  soon  granted  the 
necessary  authority,  and  with  clerks  detailed  from  the  Saint 
Joseph  office  under  his  personal  supervision  the  railway  mail 
service  between  Quincy  and  Saint  Joseph  was  soon  in  success- 
ful operation.  ...  I  suggest  that  possibly  his  corres- 
pondence on  the  subject  with  the  Department  may  yet  be 
preserved  at  Washington,  which  would  settle  the  matter 
definitely.  If  the  Hon.  Mr.  Zevely,  then  Third  Assistant 
Postmaster- General  is  yet  living,  he  could  settle  it  at  once. 
Very  truly  yours, 

John  L.  Bittinger. 

The  gist  of  the  second  letter  is  contained  in  the  opening 
lines  of  the  first  paragraph,  to  wit:  'T  am  satisfied  that 
Mr.  Barton"  (the  writer  of  the  first  letter)  ''sets  forth  the  facts 


78  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

concerning  the  inauguration  of  the  Railway  Mail  Service. 
I  am  as  well  satisfied  that  W.  A.  Davis,  who  was  my  pred- 
cessor  in  the  office,  was  the  originator  of  it  as  I  am  that  I  am 
living. "  And  the  words  designed  to  give  special  weight  to  Mr. 
Barton's  plea,  are  the  following:  ''I  have  your  favor  of  the 
loth  inst.  concerning  claim  of  heirs  of  the  late  William  A.  Davis 
that  he  originated  the  idea  of  the  late  {sic)  Railway  Mail  Ser- 
vice, and  will  say  in  reply,  that  the  claim  is  unquestionably  a 
just  one. " 

In  order  to  determine  the  value  of  these  letters,  it  is  important 
to  point  out,  first,  that  Mr.  Davis  was  connected  with  the  postal 
service  for  over  forty  years.  He  died  about  1875.  This 
was  long  after  the  credit  for  originating  the  great  Railway  Mail 
Service  had  been  given  to  another  person;  a  fact  of  which  Mr. 
Davis,  who  could  not  have  remained  for  forty  years  in  the  postal 
service  had  he  not  been  a  wide-awake  and  highly  intelligent 
man,  must  have  been  fully  aware.  It  is  not  known  that  he  made 
the  slightest  remonstrance  against  the  recognition  of  this  other 
person  as  the  originator  of  the  service,  and  it  is  wholly  incredible 
that  he  would  have  slumbered  on  his  rights  and  said  nothing 
about  his  claims,  if  he  had  any. 

It  seems  that  the  only  contemporaneous  correspondence  re- 
lating to  Mr.  Davis'  connection  with  this  work  is  the  very  letter 
from  his  own  pen,  quoted  above,  addressed  to  the  Second  Assis- 
tant Postmaster- General,  in  which  he  freely  admits  that  "in 
obedience  to  verbal  orders  received  from  the  special  agent  of 
the  Department,  he  and  one  of  the  clerks  in  his  office  commenced 
the  distribution"of  the  overland  mail  on  the  Hannibal  and  Saint 
Joseph  Railway."  It  is  easy  to  see  that  with  these  "verbal" 
orders  in  his  mind,  he  discussed  with  his  fellow-workers  in  the 
postal  service,  Mr.  Bittinger  and  Mr.  Barton,  the  subject  of 
distributing  the  mails  on  the  overland  route  running  into  St. 
Joseph,  and  that  after  the  lapse  of  twenty-two  years,  at  the 
time  his  two  friends  and  well-wishers  wrote  the  above  letters, 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  79 

the  matter  appeared  to  them  precisely  in  the  light  in  which  they 
represent  it. 

But  such  hazy  testimony  is  wholly  worthless  as  against 
the  claims  of  others,  which  are  founded  upon  incontestable 
contemporaneous  proof  of  their  connection  with  this 
system.  It  is  well  known  to  every  lawyer  how  deceitful  the 
human  memory  is  when  it  is  unsupported  by  contemporaneous 
written  data,  and  that  the  further  it  is  removed  in  point  of  time 
from  the  events  to  which  it  relates,  the  less  credence  it 
deserves. 

It  is  unfortunate  for  Mr.  Davis'  case  that  his  friends  cannot 
present  any  "correspondence  on  the  subject  with  the  Depart- 
ment "  bearing  out  their  claim,  but  it  goes  without  saying  that  if 
such  correspondence  had  ever  been  in  existence,  it  would  have 
been  preserved  in  the  Department.  It  is  rather  late  in  the  day 
now,  after  a  lapse  of  over  forty  years,  to  undertake  to  make -it 
appear  that  the  laurels  in  this  case  have  been  placed  upon  the 
brow  of  an  undeserving  man. 

Let  us  analyze  the  letters  of  Mr.  Davis'  two  friends,  Mr. 
Bittinger  and  Mr.  Barton,  written  in  1884,  a  little  further.  Mr. 
Barton  says,  "The  claim  that  Mr.  Davis  originated  the  idea  of 
the  late  {sic)  Railway  Mail  Service  is  unquestionably  a  good 
one,"  because  when  it  was  first  started,  as  he  claims,  in  1862, 
a  car  was  prepared  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Davis,  who 
went  to  Quincy,  Illinois,  with  two  clerks,  and  rode  from 
Palmyra,  Missouri,  to  St.  Joseph,  "  in  the  first  railway  pos- 
tal car  that  was  ever  built. "  Mr.  Bittinger,  in  corroborating 
these  statements,  suggests  that  Mr.  Davis'  correspondence 
with  the  Post  Office  Department  in  Washington  should  bear 
him  out,  and  calls  on  the  "  Hon.  Mr.  Zevely,  Third  Assist- 
ant Postmaster-  General,  if  yet  living,  "to  settle  the  matter, 
i.  e.,  the  question  as  to  the  authorship  of  the  Railway  Mail 
Service. 

Mr.  Zevely,  who  was  at  that  time  still  living,  wrote  in  response 


8o  The  True   Railway  Mail  Service 

to  this  call  (official  history,  page  179),  under  date  of  August  9, 
1884,  as  follows: 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  Second  Assistant  Postmaster- Gen- 
eral, I  have  read  the  statement  prepared  by  Mr.  Johnson  relating 
to  the  history  of  the  United  States  railway  post  office.  Many 
of  the  facts  given  agree  with  my  own  knowledge  and  recollec- 
tion, and  I  think  the  whole  statement  is  substantially  correct. 
In  one  particular  only  would  T  make  a  change:  that  is,  for  the 
purpose  of  crediting  W.  A.  Davis,  of  Saint  Joseph,  Mo.,  with 
first  suggesting  to  the  Post  Office  Department  the  distribution 
of  the  California  overland  mails  on  the  Hannibal  and  St. 
Joseph  Railway.  This  fact  seems  to  be  established  by  Mr. 
Bittinger^s  testimony — then  Postmaster  at  St.  Joseph,  whose 
letter  on  the  subject  is  in  the  Post  Office  Department. 

The  statement  of  Mr.  Johnson,  principal  clerk  in  the  Mail 
Equipment  Division,  to  which  Mr.  Zevely  here  refers,  and  which 
is  quite  an  elaborate  document,  is  found  on  pages  174  to  179 
of  the  official  history.  Mr.  Zevely  says  above  that  many  of  the 
facts  therein  contained  agree  with  his  own  knowledge  and 
recollection,  but  as  for  Mr.  Davis  being  entitled  to  the  honor  of 
having  originated  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  which  Mr.  Bittin- 
ger  asks  Mr.  Zevely  ''to  settle"  at  once,  the  latter  evidently  has 
no  knowledge  or  recollection.  Quite  the  reverse;  for,  first  of 
all  he  reduces  this  honor,  in  express  language,  to  the  modest 
claim  of  ''  having  first  suggested  to  the  Post  Office  Department 
the  distribution  of  the  California  overland  mail  on  the  Hannibal 
and  St.  Joseph  Railway";  and  secondly,  he  will  not  assume 
personal  responsibility  even  for  this  assertion,  but  throws  it  up- 
on the  shoulders  of  Mr.  Bittinger,  because  he  distinctly  states, 
"this  fact  seems  to  be  established  by  Mr.  Bittinger's  letter." 

It  has  been  seen  that  Mr.  Bittinger  clamors  particularly  for 
Mr.  Davis'  "correspondence  with  the  Department."  but  all  he 
gets  is  the  scant  comfort  that  what  he  claims  for  Mr.  Davis 
rests  on  his  own  words  alone,  and  this  only  to  a  very  limited 
extent,  for  it  is  not  the  honor  that  his  friend  Barton  claimed  for 


The  True  Railway  Mail  Service  8i 

Mr.  Davis,  that  he  had  originated  the  idea  of  the  Railway 
Mail  Service,  but  only  that  of  "  first  suggesting  to  the  Post  Office 
Department  the  distribution  of  the  California  overland  mails 
on  the  Hannibal  and  Saint  Joseph  Railway,"  and  nothing 
more.  It  is  perfectly  obvious,  therefore,  that  there  never  was  a 
trace  of  correspondence  on  the  subject  in  the  Post  Office  De- 
partment from  Mr.  Davis'  pen. 

A  careful  perusal  of  the  official  history  of  the  Railway  Mail 
Service  shows,  however,  very  plainly  that  whatever  Mr.  Davis' 
merits  may  have  been,  all  that  was  accomplished  with  reference 
to  the  distribution  of  the  overland  mails  on  the  Hannibal  and 
St.  Joseph  Railway  was  a  mere  makeshift,  designed  alone  to 
serve  a  present  need  caused  by  the  congestion  of  the  mails 
shipped  West  from  the  Missouri  River,  and  lacking  all  the 
characteristics  of  a  great  general  postal  reform. 

It  is  distinctly  stated  in  the  letter  written  by  H.  L.  Johnson, 
of  the  Mail  Equipment  Division  (page  178  of  the  official 
history),  that  "Mr.  Davis  being  regularly  appointed  in 
December,  1862,  a  special  agent  of  the  Department  to  super- 
intend it  for  the  purposes  of  the  overland  mails  it  was 
continued  in  operation  until  by  the  extension  of  railroads  west- 
ward to  connect  with  the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  rapidly 
approaching  completion,  the  course  and  distribution  of  the 
overland  mails  were  changed." 

In  plain  English,  this  means  that  the  Davis  experiment  of 
mail  distribution  on  the  cars  was  abandoned,  because  the 
exigency  having  passed,  there  was  no  further  need  of  this 
makeshift. 

This  distribution  was  made  only  one  way,  while  the  east- 
bound  trains  were  absolutely  without  it.  One  mail  only  was 
distributed  going  in  one  direction.  And  besides,  the  work 
was  irregularly  performed,  as  well  as  subject  to  serious  inter- 
ruption.    E.  S.  Childs,  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  under 


82  The  True  Railway  Mail  Service 

date  of  July  25,  1865,  writes  as  follows  (official  history,  page 
157)  to  the  Postmaster  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri. 

This  office  is  surprised  to  learn  from  letter  just  received 
from  Special  Agent  Branscombe,  dated  at  Saint  Joseph  on  the 
19th  inst.,  that  the  distribution  of  overland  mail  matter  on  the 
cars  of  the  Hannibal  and  Saint  Joseph  Railway  has  been  dis- 
continued and  its  distribution  compelled  to  be  made  in  your 
office,  which  causes  a  delay  of  some  twenty-four  hours.  Wil| 
you  please  ascertain  and  report  why  the  distribution  on  the 
cars  has  ceased,  and  what  has  become  of  the  agent  and  clerks 
who  were  in  charge  of  that  duty. 

To  call  this  temporary  makeshift  the  Railway  Mail  Service 
of  to-day  is  like  calling  an  old-fashioned  prairie-schooner  a 
modern  California  Limited. 

The  one  man  to  whom  the  fame  is  due  of  having  installed 
the  present  perfect  Railway  Mail  Service,  and  having  not  only 
devised  the  minutest  details  for  its  successful  establishment 
and  operation,  but  having  placed  it  from  the  start,  first 
on  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  Railway,  and  later  on  the 
other  leading  lines,  upon  an  enduring  footing,  is  George 
B.  Armstrong,  who  was  the  Assistant  Postmaster  at  Chicago 
in  the  50's  and  the  first  half  of  the  6o's,  and  who  died  in  187 1, 
after  having  served  for  two  years  as  General  Superintendent 
of  the  Railway  Mail  Service  when  it  was  made  a  separate 
bureau  of  the  Post  Office  Department  in  Postmaster- General 
CreswelPs  administration. 

We  do  not  deny  that  the  defects  that  existed  in  the  system 
of  distributing  the  mails  before  the  introduction  of  the  Rail- 
way Mail  Service  now  in  force  were  keenly  felt  by  those  who 
had  the  handling  of  the  mails  in  their  charge.  These  defects 
were  more  clearly  apparent  in  the  slow  movement  and  crowded 
condition  of  the  California  overland  mails,  and  since  neces- 
sity is  the  mother  of  invention,  it  is  doubtless  true  that  Mr. 
Davis  was  the  first  to  have  cars  prepared  for  the  distribution 
of  the  California  overland  mails. 


The  True   Railway  Mail  Service  83 

But  it  does  not  follow  from  this  that  it  was  he  who  first  devised 
the  plan,  or  who  in  the  least  aided  in  establishing  it  upon  a 
broad  and  permanent  basis.  He  was  merely  "carrying  out 
the  verbal  orders  of  the  Department"  in  running  the  first 
postal  car.  The  system  itself,  in  its  inception  and  entire  devel- 
opment, is  the  creation  of  the  broad  and  comprehensive  mind 
of  George  B.  Armstrong.  The  official  history  leaves  no  doubt 
whatever  of  this  fact.    We  quote  from  page  83,  as  follows: 

The  handling  of  through  mail  on  the  cars  without  turning 
it  into  distributing  offices  began,  as  has  been  shown,  in  a  small 
way  with  respect  to  the  overland  mails  only,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  William  A.  Davis,  in  July,  1862.  It  was  urged 
upon  the  Department  and  elaborated  into  a  more  general 
scheme  by  George  B.  Armstrong  in  1864.  It  was  conducted 
at  first  as  a  doubtful,  and  afterwards  a  successful,  experiment 
under  the  double  superintendence  of  Mr.  Armstrong  and  Mr. 
Park  from  1865  to  1869.  It  widened  into  greater  usefulness 
under  Mr.  Armstrong  from  1869  to  187 1.  .  .  . 

In  order  to  show  how  profoundly  Mr.  Armstrong  had 
studied  the  imperfections  of  the  system  which  was  to  be  re- 
placed by  the  Railway  Mail  Service,  and  had  planned  what 
means  should  be  adopted  to  remove  them,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  consider  carefully  the  three  ''Letters  on  Postal  Re- 
form, "  printed  in  full  in  this  volume,  which  were  addressed  to 
Third  Assistant  Postmaster- General  Zevely  in  May  and  June, 
1864.  In  general  outline,  the  Railway  Mail  Service  as  it  exists 
to-day  is  exactly  as  it  was  designed  in  these  now  famous 
letters.  An  examination  of  the  letters  will  prove  thi.=  state- 
ment to  be  absolutely  true. 

The  evidence  offered  in  these  pages  is  conclusive  that  it  was 
Mr.  Armstrong  alone  in  whose  creative  mind  this  system  was 
first  conceived.  As  early  as  1861,  he  suggested  it  to  his  friend 
and  neighbor,  Francis  A.  Eastman,  a  few  years  later  Postmaster 
of  Chicago  during  President  Grant's  first  administration,  and 


84  The  True  Railway   Mail  Service 

from  that  time  he  labored  with  enthusiastic  ardor  to  secure  its 
establishment.  In  these  efforts,  the  record  shows,  he  en- 
countered the  severest  opposition  of  incredulous  and  half 
hearted  superiors,  who  looked  upon  the  scheme  as  impractical 
and  chimerical.  But  the  greater  the  difficulties  that  sur- 
rounded him,  so  much  the  greater  was  the  energy  he  expended 
in  the  accomplishment  of  the  splendid  work  that  he  had 
planned;  until  at  last,  after  several  years  of  incessant  labors, 
satisfied  the  most  doubting  by  the  admirable  letters  he  wrote 
to  the  Department,  that  his  views  on  postal  reform  were  correct 
and  should  be  carried  into  execution. 

The  efforts  now  put  forth  in  certain  quarters  to  make  it 
appear  that  the  honors  of  devising  and  creating  this  system 
were  due,  not  to  Mr.  Armstrong,  but  to  some  other  person, 
amount  to  a  gross  distortion  of  the  truth.  Upon  the  evidence 
here  produced,  which  covers  the  entire  ground  so  far  as  offi- 
cial and  private  testimony  is  at  all  obtainable,  we  may  safely 
leave  it  to  the  unbiased  reader  to  determine  whether  it  is  just 
to  pluck  a  single  leaf  from  the  laurel  wreath  placed  by  Vice- 
President  Schuyler  Colfax,  and  other  prominent  men,  upon 
the  brow  of  that  distinguished  American  citizen,  George  B. 
Armstrong,  many  years  ago. 


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